According to the decision, people in Alabama could theoretically be sued for destroying a frozen embryo, raising questions about in-vitro fertilization.

After three miscarriages in less than a year, Gabby Goidel said she was diagnosed with unexplained genetic infertility.

For reasons that aren’t clear to doctors, any fetus she carries has a higher-than-average likelihood of genetic abnormalities, she said, so there is a slim chance she’d be able to carry a pregnancy to term without in-vitro fertilization.

To avoid the possibility of additional miscarriages, Goidel and her husband, Spencer, decided last year to pursue IVF in their home state of Alabama.

IVF allows doctors to test embryos for genetic abnormalities, then implant only the ones that are healthy.

The Goidels were on track to freeze embryos later this month, and they planned to only store the ones that were genetically normal.

But on Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF are considered children under state law, meaning people could theoretically be sued for destroying an embryo.

The Goidels began to worry whether they might be forced to store — or even use — embryos they had intended to discard.

  • @carl_dungeon
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    659 months ago

    I want someone to claim a whole tank of embryos as dependents on their taxes so bad.

  • @[email protected]
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    409 months ago

    Someone else put it this way.

    A firefighter has two choices. Save an actual living, breathing baby, or save 5,000 frozen embryos.

    Nothing more need be said.

  • gregorum
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    9 months ago

    I wrote this the other day, when the ruling was first announced:

    So they’re just skipping over zygotes, fetuses, infants, and babies, and skipping right to children? Are they also counted as taxpayers? Eligible recipients of child tax credits? Eligible recipients of SNAP? Federal Medicaid benefits? EBT? I bet they don’t get to vote. If they get considered by the state as children, then their parents should receive federal and state entitlements under the law.

    Can’t have your heat cake and eat it too, Alabama. That knife cuts both ways.

    • anon6789
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      79 months ago

      I was just wondering about this line of thinking.

      Can you get birth certificates for your fertilized unimplanted eggs?

      Can you get child tax credits for those egg?

      Can you file for disability benefits for the eggs since they have very rigid requirements for their care and can’t support themselves?

      And so on. Really milk that state government for all you can. If you face legal liability, make them face civil liability. Fair’s fair.

    • @ChonkyOwlbear
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      49 months ago

      That might work better as an argument if they didn’t want to get rid of these programs too.

  • @[email protected]
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    319 months ago

    Is everyone going to have to change their birthday to the dates they were conceived?

    Are all these IVF children going to have a birthday listed as the date they were inseminated in a petri dish?

    Will an embryo that is stored for 5 years before being put into a woman going to be born as a 5-year-old so their first birthday is going to be their 6th birthday?

    • @Sterile_Technique
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      279 months ago

      Aw fuck, is this Republicans’ next batch of kids to exploit?

      “Bro it’s fine, she was cultured in 2006 then put on ice for 12 years. She’s technically 18!”

      • ThePowerOfGeek
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        59 months ago

        I can hear Matt Gaetz excited squealing about this from the other side of the country.

  • @[email protected]
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    259 months ago

    How could you work as a medical professional under those conditions? It seems like if you weren’t already getting the hell out you should now.

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      There are some very frank discussions about how leaving may cause more harm to people who would otherwise have no medical care.

      It places an unfair burden on the medical professionals because they now have to choose between their oaths (and reasons they joined the field) and their livelihoods (including their family).

      It really sucks now, but will have some drastic effects 5 years from now when there’s an influx of unhealthy children with a severe lack of medical infrastructure to support them.

  • @ChonkyOwlbear
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    219 months ago

    A living human is not stored in a freezer.

  • @snekerpimp
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    169 months ago

    So are all women baby killers when they have a period? I have a feeling this is where we are heading…

    “Every egg is saaaaacred, every egg is greaaaaaat. If an egg is wasted, god gets quite iraaaaaaate”

    • @agent_flounder
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      69 months ago

      Someone better build a bunch of new for-profit prisons!