Two couples from Alabama are currently seeking justice after their embryos were destroyed at a hospital in Mobile. They are requesting a judge to declare a state law that protects in vitro fertilization clinics from legal action as unconstitutional.
Last year, the state Legislature passed a law in response to the controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling, which granted embryos the same legal protections as children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
In a 166-page brief filed on Monday in Mobile County Circuit Court, James and Emily LePage and William and Caroline Fonde argued that the statutes in question are unlawful attempts to disregard the rights and remedies that were specifically protected by the Constitution’s Declaration of Rights. They further contended that these rights were safeguarded when the People of Alabama voted in November 2018 to amend the Constitution with constitutional guarantees that protect unborn children.
According to the lawyers representing the couples, the existing laws go against the fundamental rights of the plaintiffs, which include the right to life, the right to raise and nurture children, and the right to equal protection under Alabama law.
According to the lawyers, the legislation has infringed upon various provisions of the Alabama Constitution. They argue that the right to remedy and the right to protect the couples’ claims from retroactive legislation have both been violated.
The couples made a clear statement in the brief, emphasizing that unborn children and their parents should not be stripped of the protections provided by Alabama law, including the remedies under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
In 2021, the LePages, Fondes, Scott Aysenne, and Felicia Burdic-Aysenne filed separate lawsuits against the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center for wrongful death, negligence, and breach of contract.
A hospital patient accidentally destroyed the embryos of the couples when they were dropped, causing them to be lost forever.
The LePages and Fondes have requested that Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Jill Parrish Phillips declare the IVF law unconstitutional.
In the ruling that dismissed the wrongful death claim, she had also previously sided against the couples by stating that frozen embryos should not be considered children.
According to the ruling by Judge Emily C. Marks Phillips, Alabama’s statutes and case law indicate that the Alabama Supreme Court has recognized and upheld the legislature’s consistent use of the term “in utero” when referring to the unborn or minor child in a wrongful death case, despite the state’s strong belief in the sanctity of life. The term “in utero” was emphasized in the original text.
The controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling reversed her decision.
National headlines were drawn and there was a backlash after the high court’s decision. IVF clinics even halted their operations due to the fear of being prosecuted.
At present, IVF clinics in Alabama are protected from legal action, thanks to recent legislation passed by the state’s legislature.
