United States – In January, an Alabama court ruled that frozen embryos must be treated as real children. The Democrats will try to pass the bill during the ongoing voting session in the U.S. Senate. This will ensure that Americans are free to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies.
Sparking Nationwide Debate
On February 16, after the Alabama state Supreme Court pronounced a unanimous verdict, at least three in-vitro fertilization (IVF) providers, which unites the eggs and the sperm in a test tube, had to stop frozen embryos because they were treated like children, as reported by Reuters.
The consequence of this is that IVF embryos which aren’t viable are usually scrapped or exploited for research. Thus, the Alabama verdict has provoked the concern that IVF practitioners may be prosecuted. More notably, it has influenced other states to seek the same justice.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and veteran of the Iraq War who was seriously injured in battle in 2004, said on Tuesday that she would ask for approval to hold an urgent vote on her Access to Family Building Act legislation on Wednesday.
Duckworth’s effort would be derailed if another senator objected to such a rapid approach.
Republican Opposition Looms
Duckworth’s bill is certain to face opposition from Republican officeholders despite the fact that many of them have voiced disapproval of the Alabama court decision, as reported by Reuters.
It was unclear who might lodge the objection. But Republican Senator Mike Rounds told reporters on Tuesday: “This could be addressed at the state levels where they have this issue coming.”
Sen. Rounds stated that senators talked about the issue during a Republican lunch, and he supposed that states would be accountable to answer questions on what wrongful death issues in those facilities across states where there was a responsibility to take care of the embryos.
Duckworth, a former service woman, spoke to the press yesterday and said she sailed for a decade after the Iraq service before she and her husband had to turn to IVF. They now have two children.
“I have five embryos that were created (using IVF); three that were deemed to be nonviable, would not survive,” Duckworth said, as reported by Reuters.
When “personhood laws” pertaining to embryos were to be implemented, she said that in 2013, her doctor warned her that “I could be convicted of manslaughter or murder for discarding these three eggs that were nonviable.”
Supreme Court’s 2022 Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to reverse its historic Roe v. Wade decision establishing a national right to abortion, as well as subsequent state reproductive rights actions like the one on IVF, are expected to be major issues in this year’s presidential and congressional campaigns, with Democrats taking particular aim at them.