MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an Alabama ruling that triggered concerns about in vitro fertilization availability by allowing couples to pursue wrongful death lawsuits over the the accidental destruction of frozen embryos.
A fertility clinic and hospital had asked the court to review the Alabama Supreme Court decision that a couple, who had a frozen embryo destroyed in an accident, could pursue a lawsuit against them for the wrongful death of their “minor child.” Justices turned down the petition without comment.
The state court decision in February sparked a national backlash and concerns about legal liability for fertility clinics. In the wake of the decision, several large fertility providers in Alabama paused IVF services. After Alabama lawmakers approved immunity protections from future lawsuits, the providers resumed services.
The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center in August filed a petition asking justices to review whether the couple could bring the lawsuit and if the decision to let the lawsuit proceed ran afoul of constitutional protections of due process and fair notice rights.
“In an astonishing decision, and ignoring over 150 years of the statute’s interpretive history, the Supreme Court of Alabama held here that an unimplanted, in vitro embryo constitutes a ‘minor child’ for purposes of the statute, upending the commonsense understanding of the statute around which many Alabamians, including Petitioners, have ordered their businesses and lives,” lawyers for the two medical providers wrote.
The wrongful death lawsuit brought by the couple is ongoing. Two other couples, who had been part of the earlier case, dropped their lawsuits after reaching settlement agreements.