I am confident that this result will not stand.
Even so, it is frightening how little the GOP Justices of the Alabama Supreme Court understand about human biology and development. Updated — the University hospital at Birmingham has announced that it is “pausing” all IVF procedures in light of the below. So this is no longer a “theoretical” problem, Alabama. Damnation.
End, updated portion.
I do not think many Americans would concur that a FROZEN clump of perhaps 500 cells… is a human, with all the rights of a human — and should the IVF fail, the doctors (and “parents”) might be charged with a “homicide”.
That is lunacy, Alabama. Here’s the bit of it:
…“This ruling is stating that a fertilized egg, which is a clump of cells, is now a person. It really puts into question, the practice of IVF,” Barbara Collura, CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, told The Associated Press Tuesday.
The group called the decision a “terrifying development for the 1-in-6 people impacted by infertility” who need in-vitro fertilization….
This will ultimately reach the Supremes. It will be overturned — and elected state level judges should leave science… to the scientists.
One may be compensated, where — as here — the embryos were negligently destroyed by a lab — without having to decide that the clump of cells was a fully formed human being. In sum, this decision violates the rule of parsimony. Onward.
नमस्ते
Powerline Lies... 
In his concurrence, Chief Justice Tom Parker writes:
What in the world are these words doing in a legal opinion? Has his honor never heard of the Establishment Clause? If the people of Alabama suddenly adopted a new religion, would the Court’s interpretation of laws have to change? This is mind-boggling.
Parker also approvingly cites a 2004 Italian law:
He fails to mention, however, that Italy overturned that law in 2009 because it was a catastrophic medical failure. Does he not know this fact, or is he deliberately omitting it? Either option is unconscionable.
Judges should leave the science to the scientists and the doctoring to the doctors. Anything else portends tragedy.
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To say this decision is an oddball / outlier, is to understate it all — by orders of magnitude.
And true enough, soon it will be swept away, but it is truly frightening that these are the “thought processes” and “analysis rubrics” most GOP Ala. judges bring to bear — on matters that have US Constitutional implications.
Even if they believe that about the ‘Bama constitution… last I checked, the state takes vast sums from the federal government, to support one of the poorest populations (on a state-wide basis) in the nation.
The federal rules apply in Alabama, too — as you say.
Damn.
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