A COUPLE whose frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic have the right to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, a judge has ruled.

 

In an opinion issued yesterday, Judge Jeffrey Lawrence said: "A pre-embryo is a human being ... whether or not it's implanted in the womb."

He said the couple were just as entitled to seek compensation as any parents whose child had been killed.

 

The suit was filed by Alison Miller and Todd Parrish, who in January, 2000 stored nine embryos at the Centre for Human Reproduction in Chicago.

 

Their doctor said one embryo looked particularly promising, but the Chicago couple were told six months later the embryos had been accidentally discarded.

 

In his ruling, Judge Lawrence relied on Illinois' Wrongful Death Act, which allows lawsuits to be filed if unborn foetuses are killed as a result of accidents or assaults.

 

The Act says the state of gestation or development of a human does not preclude legal action.

 

Another judge had thrown out the couple's wrongful-death claim, but Judge Lawrence reversed that decision, partly because the first judge had not explained his decision.

 

A lawyer for the fertility clinic said an appeal was likely to be filed.

 

Colleen Connell, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the decision could hamper reproductive research.

 

Ms Connell said she expected the ruling would be overturned on appeal.

 

"It may be groundbreaking, but it's the wrong decision," she said.

 

"No appellate court has ever declared a fertilised egg a human being in a wrongful-death suit."

 

Stem cells can potentially grow into any type of human tissue.

"It may be groundbreaking, but it's the wrong decision."

 

That's it in a nutshell. Bad legal decision that will most certainly be overturned.

 

The logic of the decision is fatally flawed, no matter what side of the reproductive rights debate you are on. And it will cause problems for both sides if let stand. The couple never would have had all nine of the embryos implanted and brought to term - either they would have just implented the most viable ones, they would have selectively terminated the smallest ones in utero, or they would have attempted to carry all to term with some or all of them spontaneously aborting in the proces and the long-term health of the surviving babies put at great risk.

 

So, if this judge is recognizing all nine unimplanted pre-embryos as humans with full rights, none of the outcomes above should escape a murder rap of thier own. If not all pre-embryos are used, once the remainder are discarded with parents' consent, whey would that be less murderous than what the clinic accidentally did? And the flip side, if they just kept the remaining pre-embryos frozen indefinitely - as recognized humand with full rights why would this "heinous"

act not be punishable as wrongful incarceration? Absurd, surely, but that is the nature of the legal can of worms this judgement has opened up.

 

Ditto for any fertiliy clinic patients who will opt for selective reduction to give the largest/healthiest fetuses the best chance at survival and high health.

 

And for any patienst who dcide to carry multiple implants to term and some spontaneously abort and others are developmentally retarded, why would the current judgement not also have thatt couple up for involuntary manslaughter, criminal negligence, and reckless endangerment?

For the sake of not starting the "when does life begin" debate, I am going to keep my big mouth shut.

I think Abortion, when used as a last ditch effort at contraception, is wrong. If a couple gets pregnant and decides a couple of months down the road that they can't raise it or simply doesn't want it then they should bite the bullet and have the child then put it up for adoption.

 

In cases of rape or incest I think the morning after pill is the best way to go and I'm all for making it available OTC. Additionally I think it's ok to do abortion in order to save the life of the mother.

 

That all being said I don't think this was a good decision by the courts and it's gonna get tossed.

For the sake of not starting the "when does life begin" debate, I am going to keep my big mouth shut.

 

Life begins at the hop, boys and girls.

 

Life begins at the hop, boys and girls.