Supreme Court Silence on ‘Personhood’ Leaves IVF Vulnerable

The Alabama high court’s “personhood” decision, which temporarily shut down IVF in the state, has the potential to reverberate to other areas of the country now that the US Supreme Court has allowed it to stand.

The February decision that life begins at fertilization and that unborn children are people for purposes of Alabama’s wrongful death law was swiftly met with legislation protecting in vitro fertilization providers from civil and criminal liability.

But that shield law doesn’t answer all the questions raised as a result of the Alabama top court’s decision—or make much sense to someone who ...