What are snowflake babies and what does it mean for IVF?
Texas Republicans have pushed for embryonic personhood with the premise that adoption should be the primary resort for unused embryos
Though In Vitro Fertilization is overwhelmingly supported by the American public, it has been challenged because antiabortion activists have argued embryos have the same rights as people who have been born. That was at the core of a controversial Alabama Supreme Court decision earlier this year that extended those rights for the first time in legal history.
A similar case is working its way through the court system in Texas—a lawsuit pitting a wife against her husband. According to a news site, Live Action, Caroline Antoun sued her husband, Gaby Antoun, who has custody of the embryos as part of their divorce agreement. Caroline wanted possession of her embryos, and her lawyers argued that Texas antiabortion law protects embryos as people. A lower court had ruled for her husband. The Texas Supreme Court is currently considering it.
In Texas, more than 7,500 IVF children are born each year.
Lawyers for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine filed an amicus brief arguing that such rights do not exist for embryos or fetuses. Many people don’t understand how embryonic personhood if established, would affect IVF availability and treatment. If unused, they will have to be stored indefinitely, which is so cost-prohibitive that it may make IVF an impossibility altogether.
“A frozen embryo is not a legal “person” under a plain reading of Texas laws,” the ASRM brief contends. “As such, parents’ rights over the care and custody of their children do not apply to frozen embryos stored at a facility. Granting “personhood” status to a frozen embryo would upend IVF treatment in the State of Texas.”
IVF patients agree to certain conditions that address their wishes for the disposal or preservation of embryos. Those agreements protect IVF providers from litigation.
The courts aren’t the only threat to IVF treatment in Texas. Recently, the state Republican party’s platform committee narrowly rejected a proposal to establish embryonic personhood, according to the Austin American-Statesman. They described embryos as “snowflake babies,” a term worth explaining further.
It has its roots in the George W. Bush Culture of Life era. During that time, which was arguably the height of Republican anti-abortionism before Roe v. Wade’s overturning, government officials, including Bush, argued that the government should preserve embryos until they were donated for adoption. The Bush administration spent millions to promote the effort, according to an academic paper written by Jaime Conde that appeared in the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice in 2006.
It originated with the Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption Program run by Nightlight Christian Adoptions, an influential organization pushing embryonic personhood in the early 2000s. The organization began in 1997 and, according to its current website, has been responsible for 1,300 IVF adoptions.
Nightlight Christian Adoptions says on its website that it counsels women against abortions. It lists adverse health side effects and says women can experience depression after abortion.
As these cases play out, we should expect more state governments and federal officials to push for embryo adoption. We will also have to conduct studies about how commonplace embryo adoption is in proportion to how many embryos are stored medically. If it’s only a minute amount, then the concerns about storage costs would still be of significant concern and a central point of argument against embryonic personhood.
Oh boy1 If this crap continues, as it will, this will bring a huge impact on current adoption law and the legal status of adopted people--especially their rights--that no one has thought about. (And it is pretty funny when Nightlight and other agencies tak about adopting embryos, because currently thedy are sold not adopted. I disike IVF in general, but not as much as I hate ati-aborts, forced birthers, Christian Nationalists, and Christo-fascists, but I'll go with current IVF embryo-retention over that gang o freaks any day.