CARTERVILLE, Ill. (WSIL)---The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled frozen embryos outside of the womb are children.聽It's ruling like none before that could impact access to fertility treatments.聽
In 2021, more than 238,000 families in the U.S. relied on IVF to have a baby.
In 2019, Illinois lawmakers passed an abortion protection that says "a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State.鈥� Political Professor Matt Lees says he doesn't anticipate the state law to change soon.
鈥淭he governor's been very clear about this,鈥� Southeastern Illinois College political science professor Matt Lees said.
He says Illinois is establishing itself by providing those services that aren't available in other states.
Lees says it does lead to more questions about In vitro fertilization treatments...
鈥淨uestions if this is a viable human life, or if the parents divorce, who has custody of them,鈥� Lees says. 鈥淭here's just a whole range of new legal avenues and would also limit the number of embryos that are produced by those facilities. I would anticipate.鈥�
He adds the Alabama Supreme Court ruling will most likely be appealed through the federal court system.
鈥淚 don't think there are enough votes on the high court at this time to say, you know, this ruling, which says effectively that as soon as conception occurs, that's life. And, all that applies to protecting life applies to unborn life. I don't think that the court is there,鈥� Lees said.
Lees says Alabama's ruling might cause more people to go out to vote.
鈥淎bortion's an area where we look at and we assume it's polarized. You're either for it or against it. The American people are pretty nuanced on this,鈥� Lees said.
