An embryo is one of the earliest stages of development of a multicellular organism. But according to the Supreme Court of Alabama, it is a person, too — an unborn child, entitled to the same legal protections as any minor.
The court ruled on Feb. 16 that a fertility clinic patient who accidentally destroyed other patients’ frozen embryos could be liable in a wrongful death lawsuit, writing in its opinion that “the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location,” and that this includes “unborn children who are located outside of a biological uterus at the time they are killed.”
This has had immediate and profound consequences on the practice of in vitro fertilization in the state, with many fertility clinics already deciding to interrupt their services for fear of legal repercussions, including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which has paused its IVF treatments, as has Alabama Fertility Services.
Taking this seriously is honestly a mistake.
Sometimes, you have to say: this is fucking stupid. Sometimes that’s a complete argument. No deep investigation of the consequences, no nitpicking of the alleged premise, no devil’s-advocate consideration is necessary. It’s just fucking stupid. People will argue otherwise, but only as freewheeling contrarian nonsense, which is equally fucking stupid.
We are dealing with people who do not care what words mean, and it is a waste of effort to address their nonsensical mouth noises.