Frozen Embryos Have a Right to Life Too

Texas Right to Life has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Texas advocating for the Right to Life of preborn children formed through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

IVF is the process by which an embryo is fertilized in a lab, then implanted into a woman’s womb. The case before the court deals with a dispute between a divorced husband and wife regarding frozen embryos created via IVF during their marriage.

Under Texas law, this couple’s frozen embryos are treated as property, not children with a Right to Life. Texas Right to Life urges the Supreme Court to provide guidance to lower courts which are relying on this misguided and outdated precedent.

Joining the brief are Hannah Strege, the first individual successfully conceived and born through the process of IVF, and her adoptive parents, John and Marlene Strege.

Undeniably, IVF has produced alarming ethical dilemmas. Extra embryos are often frozen indefinitely or, even more tragically, discarded or “donated” to research. Couples who opt for egg or sperm donation may effectively choose a “designer baby” with their desired traits and physical characteristics—a grave commoditization of children. Nevertheless, all preborn children, once conceived either naturally or artificially, possess an equal Right to Life. Frozen embryos should be treated as children, not property.

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Although frozen embryos are often destroyed during the IVF process, Texas’ policies outlawing abortion do not unintentionally ban IVF in our state. Even the destruction of preborn babies during the IVF process is not the same as abortion. Texas Right to Life’s brief clarifies the distinction:

Texas laws that regulate and prohibit elective abortion have been carefully crafted to separate these issues. Thus, legally speaking, the destruction of an embryo in the process of any [Assisted Reproductive Technologies] are not abortions in Texas because of our definitions of abortion. Abortion is, according to Texas law, causing the death of the child, who is a child of a woman known to be pregnant. This is obviously not the case in embryo-destroying procedures during IVF. However, there are other Texas laws, such as the Penal Code, that provide legal protection to human embryos in certain circumstances. Violation of these laws is not abortion, but could be assault or homicide.

Texas law has clearly and repeatedly protected human beings from the moment of fertilization. Any procedure that kills a preborn child, whether IVF or abortion, is deeply unethical. Preborn children at all stages—from conception to natural death—and in all locations—the mother’s womb or a petri dish—bear the mark of their Creator and warrant our protection.