Two couples who had sued a hospital and in vitro fertilization clinic over the accidental destruction of their frozen embryos in Alabama have decided to drop their lawsuit. The LePages and Fondes filed a joint lawsuit against the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center. The Mobile County Circuit Court Judge granted the dismissal with prejudice, preventing the couples from pursuing the case in the future. Another couple involved in a similar wrongful death claim still has an ongoing lawsuit. The reasons for dropping the lawsuit were not provided by the couples’ lawyers, who did not respond to requests for comment.
The incident occurred when a patient at the hospital removed and dropped several embryos that were stored in a hospital facility, sparking legal action from the affected couples. The case gained significant attention in the abortion debate after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling in February allowed the couples to pursue wrongful death claims for their destroyed embryos, considering them “extrauterine children.”
Following the court ruling, three in vitro fertilization clinics in Alabama closed due to concerns about liability when embryos are equated to children or fetuses. The backlash against the ruling prompted Alabama lawmakers to pass a bill protecting doctors from legal liability in cases involving embryo destruction. Despite this, the three couples challenged the immunity bill, arguing its unconstitutionality in applying a new statute to ongoing legal disputes and its contradiction with state policies recognizing the rights of unborn children, including the right to life.
Efforts to reach lawyers representing the IVF clinic and hospital for comment were unsuccessful.
