A clip of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett refusing to rule out criminalizing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) has resurfaced after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF are babies.
At her Senate confirmation hearing in 2020 Barrett, a Donald Trump appointee, dodged Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) question about whether it would be constitutional to criminalize IVF treatments.
“Senator I’ve repeatedly said, as has every other nominee who’s sat in this seat, that we can’t answer questions in the abstract,” Barrett said. “That would have to be decided in the course of the judicial process.”
Barrett continued: “Some legislature would actually have to do that, then litigants would have to come to court, there would have to be briefs and arguments and consultations with colleagues and opinion writing and consideration of precedent, so an off the cuff reaction to that would just circumvent the judicial process.”
Barrett has publicly supported an organization that promotes the idea that life begins at fertilization and that discarding frozen or unused embryos created during the IVF process should be criminalized.
Fresh scrutiny of Barrett’s comments comes after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos created through IVF are considered to be children under state law.
Three Alabama clinics have suspended IVF services after the ruling, including the state’s largest hospital, to avoid risking doctors or patients facing criminal prosecution for undergoing IVF treatments.
“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF, but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said in a statement.
