The Alabama IVF Ruling

Just some law. No theology. No outrage.

This state further acknowledges, declares, and affirms that it is the public policy of this state to ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child in all manners and measures lawful and appropriate. Alabama Constitution, Article I, Section 36.06(b)

LePage v. The Center for Reproductive Medicine¹

James and Emily LePage were clients of The Center for Reproductive Rights, which provides IVF services. The Center stored the embryos created from the LePages’ gametes in its cryogenic nursery which was located in a local hospital. A patient from the hospital “managed to wander into” the clinic and accidentally destroy some of those embryos. The LePages sued the Center and the hospital under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act (“the Wrongful Death Act” or “the “Act”), claiming that the destroyed embryos were their “minor children.” The Supreme Court of Alabama agreed.

It’s difficult not to like the result. These would-be parents suffered a tragic loss through the defendants’ negligence. Surely, they deserved compensation. As Justice Sellers, dissenting, observed, “these cases concern…