According to a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, a fertilized frozen egg should be treated as the legal equivalent of an existent child. Specialists in reproductive medicine agree: This is medically and scientifically unfounded.
In LePage v Mobile Infirmary Clinic, the Alabama Supreme Court made a decision that flies in the face of medical reality and the needs of the citizens of Alabama. In its medically and scientifically unfounded decision, the court held that a fertilized frozen egg in a fertility clinic freezer should be treated as the legal equivalent of an existent child or a fetus gestating in a womb. The eight members of the court who approved this decision may view these things as the same, but science and everyday common sense tell us they are not.
Cryopreservation, or freezing of reproductive tissues, including fertilized eggs or embryos, is essential to modern fertility care and helps patients achieve the birth of a single, healthy child. In natural fertility, several eggs are often fertilized before one develops and implants in the uterus. Similarly in IVF, to get the best outcome, several eggs must be fertilized to allow for one with normal growth and development to be chosen and transferred into the uterus. Any remaining normally developing embryos can be, at the patient’s request and consent, frozen for later use. The best-developing embryo will be transferred into a patient for an attempt at a pregnancy while the rest are frozen for use, in case the first one does not develop into a live birth, or the patient later desires another child.
By insisting that these very different biological entities are legally equivalent, the best state-of-the-art fertility care will be made unavailable to the people of Alabama. No healthcare provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges.
If the policy outcomes mandated under this decision stand, the consequences will be profound. Modern fertility care will be unavailable to the people of Alabama, needlessly blocking them from building the families they want. Young physicians will choose not to come to the state for training or to begin their practice. Existing clinics will be forced to choose between providing sub-optimal patient care or shutting their doors.
This article is based on a press release by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Image source: Yunus Tuğ, Unsplash
