Alabama IVF Clinics: Potential Implications Of The LePage Case

On February 16, 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a significant and controversial ruling that gave personhood status to unimplanted human embryos—a decision with considerable implications for in vitro fertilization ("IVF") clinics in Alabama. In LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, the court held that "extrauterine embryos" are considered children for purposes of Alabama's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act¹, which affords parents of a deceased child to recover punitive damages for the death of that child. This is a first-of-its-kind ruling from a state high court in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Determining whether embryos are considered property, children, or something in between is a complex analysis that varies based on state laws, as we covered in detail in our previous post, Taking Security Interests in Human Reproductive Tissue: Clarifying Lender Options under Federal and State Law. Fetal