The Alabama Supreme Court decision to grant ‘personhood’ to fertilized embryos, thereby upending the hopes of Alabama couples using IVF, has another more sweeping and chilling consequence. The Alabama Supreme Court has now stated that embryos outside of the uterus are the legal equivalent of a child, and anything that can happen to an embryo that prevents is development can be considered the wrongful death of a minor, with legal consequences.
This was part of their “judicial reasoning”
“Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in a concurring opinion. “We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness.”
So even accidental destruction of frozen embryos in Alabama is now wrongful death. For example, if an Alabama facility that stores fertilized embryos for use in IVF treatment were to run out of Liquid Nitrogen, say following natural disaster like a hurricane or flood, and stored frozen embryos were to die, then that facility could be guilty of mass murder. This may sound crazy (and it is) but the same reasoning that has led to a rapid suspension of IVF treatments in Alabama could (and likely will) be extended to ban oral contraceptives.
While the prevention of implantation of a fertilized ovem is not the primary way in which oral contraceptives prevent conception — that is often described as one of the potential mechanisms.
The pill prevents the ovaries from releasing an egg each month (ovulation). It also: thickens the mucus in the neck of the womb, so it is harder for sperm to penetrate the womb and reach an egg. and thins the lining of the womb, so there is less chance of a fertilised egg implanting into the womb and being able to grow.
Consequently, if a woman takes oral contraceptives and one of her eggs is fertilizied and then fails to implant and develop but is instead passed outside her body, in Alabama that woman could then concieveably be charged with a serious crime. I suppose that sellers of oral contraceptives that could result in that outcome might also be charged with wrongful death or contributing to the wrongful death of a minor. Faced by that sort of legal jeopardy — it may soon be very difficult for women in Alabama to legally obtain or use oral contraceptives.
The birth control pill is the most commonly prescribed form of contraception in the US. Approximately 25% of women aged 15-44 who currently use contraception reported using the pill as their method of choice. Oral contraceptive pills are either combined estrogen-progesterone(also called combined oral contraceptive pill- COC) or progesterone-only pill (POP). The most commonly prescribed pill is the combined hormonal pill with estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone is the hormone that prevents pregnancy, and the estrogen component controls menstrual bleeding. Birth control pills are primarily used to avoid pregnancy. The type of use of medicine estimates the effectiveness of these oral contraceptive medicines.
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Perfect use, meaning the method is used consistently and correctly every time, is less than one woman out of 100 will become pregnant in the first year of use.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...
Yes, fortunately Alabama women should still have other methods of contraception available to them — but who knows for how long. The same arguments could and likely will lead to a ban on oral contraceptives can be made against IUDs,
An IUD prevents pregnancy by releasing copper into the womb which creates an environment toxic to sperm. An IUD also impedes the mobility of sperm. The irritation cause by an IUD results in the production of mucus that blocks the passage of sperm. Those are the primary mechanisms that an IUD provides to prevent conception. But there is a secondary mechanism as well. An IUD
- makes it difficult for sperm to get to an egg
- thins the womb lining, so there’s less chance an egg will attach to it www.nhsinform.scot/...
It seems clear to me that having now prohibited abortions including home use of mifepristone www.cnn.com/..., banning oral contraception and IUDs is the real intent of the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision — IVF is just collateral damage alabamareflector.com/.... The real goal of that decision was to prevent women from obtaining and using the most effective means available to them to prevent unplanned pregnancy. That was and has been the plan all along, and if successful in Alabama will not stop there. thehill.com/...
This issue is covered in today’s NYT www.nytimes.com/...