#284 IVF Implications of Alabama's Frozen Embryo Ruling with Laura Hercher

Trigger warning: In this episode sensitive topics are discussed including, but not limited to, miscarriage, sexual abuse, manslaughter, and child abuse. 

On February 16th, 2024 the Alabama Supreme Court brought fertility care in that state to a screeching halt—and started a national conversation—by declaring that frozen embryos were people in the eyes of the law.

This is the first line of Laura Hercher’s Scientific American article, “How Arguments that Embryos Are People Pose a Threat to IVF''.

And we are lucky enough to have Laura joining us to discuss this!

For those that somehow don’t know Laura Hercher, you haven’t listened to enough episodes of DNA Today she has become our correspondent when major legislation happens that affects reproductive medicine, check those episodes out below. 

#157 NSGC 2021 Recap (Texas Abortion Ban)

#191 Overturning Roe v. Wade with Laura Hercher

Laura Hercher (she/her) is a genetic counselor and the Director of Student Research at Sarah Lawrence College’s Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics, where her research focuses on ethical, legal and social issues in genomic medicine. Her work as a commentator and journalist has been published in a wide variety of media outlets, including Scientific American, the MIT Technology Review, the Nation Magazine and the New York Times. At present, she is working on a book examining the societal implications of reproductive genomic medicine in the United States, tentatively entitled “The Ghettoization of Genetic Disease.”

On This Episode We Discuss: 

Overview of the Alabama Supreme Court case and its ruling on the legal status of frozen embryos

Definition of personhood and its implications for IVF and Republican politicians

Implications of the ruling for couples seeking fertility treatment involving frozen embryos

Impact of the ruling on the use of IVF for preventing hereditary conditions

Considerations regarding legal liabilities and responsibilities for abandoned embryos

Historical exemptions of IVF from abortion restrictions and its future under personhood laws

Tensions between embryo recognition as individuals and practical IVF procedures

Potential changes in availability and affordability of IVF due to legal implications

Precedents from other countries and legal systems regarding IVF and embryo personhood 

Role of the U.S. Supreme Court in adjudicating similar reproductive rights cases

Teaser for Laura Hercher’s upcoming book on the societal implications of reproductive genomic medicine

If you listened until the end of the episode, you heard Laura Hercher’s breaking news. No spoilers, but now you have to listen to our episode about how accurate the genetics in the 1997 movie Gattaca is today, that’s Episode #110. 

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today next Friday! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 280 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel, this includes some episodes recorded at NBC Universal Stamford Studios. 

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