A proposed bill in the Florida Senate that would expand wrongful death liability for unborn children in the womb has stalled in the wake of the controversial Alabama ruling that defined embryos cryogenically frozen for in vitro fertilization as “extrauterine children.”
The “Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child” bill proposed by Florida state Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican, was scheduled for a vote in the state Senate Rules Committee on Monday, but Grall requested that the bill “be temporarily postponed at this time.”
“It is my understanding this is the first time this issue has been considered by the Florida Legislature,” Grall said in a press statement obtained by the Washington Examiner. “It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance.”
Earlier this month, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created for IVF destroyed in a cryogenics lab accident in 2020 fit the legal definition of “unborn child” and as such were protected under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
Embryos created during the IVF process can be frozen about five to six days after the fertilization of the mother’s egg, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The Alabama Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, written and adopted in 1872, was interpreted by the state Supreme Court in 2011 and in 2012 to apply to unborn children in utero despite the primitive embryology at the time of the act’s passage.
Grall stressed that her bill was not about abortion when it was introduced, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Rather, Grall said the bill was about recognizing the value of the life of a child and the pain and suffering of a family that loses a pregnancy due to negligence.
IVF is also not mentioned explicitly in Grall’s bill.
“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done,” Grall said in her press statement.
Most states have statutes that allow for a civil remedy for the wrongful death of an unborn child, but 25 states have gestational age requirements or require the pregnancy to be viable before these can go into effect.
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Although difficult to define, viability is typically deemed when a fetus can survive outside of the mother’s uterus. This is estimated to be between 20 and 24 weeks’ gestation.
Both chambers of the Alabama legislature introduced bills last week to clarify the existing statute that embryos created in a lab are not considered “extrauterine children.”