Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos created during fertility treatments should be considered children under state law. The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. Justices said an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” In a concurring opinion, Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker quoted the Bible and said, “Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God.”