An embryo shipping company is pausing shipments following a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.
The court’s decision ruled that cryogenically frozen embryos are “extrauterine children,” leading some clinics to fear the consequences of the embryos being destroyed through the process.
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An embryo shipment company, Cryoport, announced in the aftermath that it would halt all embryo shipments until clarity has been reached on the decision. Those who already placed orders are being offered refunds.
“Until the company has further clarity on the decision and what it means for Cryoport, clinics and intended parents, it is pausing all activity in Alabama until further notice,” the company said in an email received by an Alabama fertility clinic and shared with the New York Times.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Cyroport for comment.
The company is following the lead of several clinics in Alabama, which have frozen operations as they explore the ramifications of last week’s decision.
The Alabama Supreme Court gave its ruling last week in a lawsuit by a group of patients whose frozen embryos were destroyed in December 2020 after being accidentally dropped. The court sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act allowed parents to sue over the death of a young child, which “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
While the decision doesn’t criminalize in vitro fertilization, the number of embryo casualties associated with the procedure is making clinics skittish, fearful of being held responsible for the death of a child.
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Earlier Friday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he does not plan on using the ruling to prosecute families who use IVF.
Marshall said he “has no intention of using the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers,” according to a statement from chief counsel Katherine Robertson.
