Judges in the US rule that frozen embryos are ‘extrauterine children’
A justice quoted the Bible in delivering the Alabama court's finding which has caused at least one centre to 'pause' IVF.
A Supreme Court in the US has ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF should be considered “extrauterine children” and therefore potentially subject to wrongful death lawsuits if an egg is destroyed.
In 2020, a patient at the Center for Reproductive Medicine in Alabama went into the clinic’s cryogenic storage area and removed several embryos.
The sub-zero temperatures at which they had been stored burnt the patient’s hand, causing them to drop the embryos on the floor.
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by three couples who lost their embryos, this accident “killed them”.
