In February, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an unprecedented decision, finding frozen embryos should be treated as children under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Consequently, the court held, those who destroy the embryos can be held liable for wrongful death.
Case Western Reserve University School of Law will host a workshop examining the decision. Titled “IVF and Abortion—Two Sides of the Same Coin,” this event will be held Monday, April 1, from noon to 1 p.m. in the School of Law Moot Courtroom (Room A59).
The speakers will be:
- Naomi Cahn, the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law and the Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law; and
- Sonia M. Suter, co-director of the George Washington University Health Law & Policy Program, professor of law, the Kahan Family Research Professor, the Henry St. George Tucker III Dean’s Research Professor of Law, and founding director of the Health Law Initiative.
In this workshop, the speakers will first review the parameters of the Alabama decision. They will then address the relationship between the Alabama decision and the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned the fundamental right to an abortion.
The speakers also will discuss relevant aspects and regulation of assisted reproductive technologies, like in vitro fertilization (IVF) to explain the potential impact of the Alabama decision. Their discussion also will address state and national efforts to protect the ability to build a family through IVF. Finally, they will explore connections between assisted reproductive technology and abortion, addressing broader social issues about the right to control one’s own fertility.