A ‘wrongful death’ suit by an embryo [sic] could usher in a new threat for abortion providers and women everywhere“FOUR YEARS AGO in Arizona, a woman had an abortion. She was not ambivalent about the decision: she was upset to learn she was pregnant, scared of giving birth, and she had never wanted children. Even so, Arizona law required a pregnant person to absorb a litany of information before terminating: medical information (like the risks associated with the procedure), and legal information (like the fact that the father would be liable for child support if she carried the pregnancy to term). In Arizona, a person must sign a consent form officially acknowledging receipt of that information, then wait 24 hours before she can obtain an abortion. The woman signed her paperwork and returned the next day to pick up the pills. Six days later, she came back for a follow-up visit: The abortion was successful.“Two years later, the woman’s ex-husband, Mario Villegas, created an estate for the aborted embryo, and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the embryo against the doctors and clinic who provided the abortion. Villegas accuses the clinic and doctors of failing to obtain his ex-wife’s informed consent, thus committing malpractice, causing the wrongful death of his potential child and violating his “fundamental right” to parent. “According to an analysis by National Advocates for Pregnant Women, personhood laws were already having far-reaching consequences before Dobbs, creating conditions in which pregnant women were either denied medical care or had it forced upon them against their wishes. But, without federal protections, the group warns these laws could end up outlawing or curtailing the practice of IVF in at least thirty states, or requiring the “adoption” of unused embryos; they could hamper research that involves embryonic stem cells, determine whether or not a person is entitled to use the carpool lane, and change how much they pay in taxes or child support.“There is also the potential, noted in NAPW’s report, for former partners to weaponize such laws to prevent their partners (or ex-partners) from obtaining an abortion. In the past, the group found, courts have been largely unsympathetic to the arguments men have made when trying to block their ex-partners from obtaining abortions. But, surveying the history of those failed cases, they note a marked shift in legal framing ‘from the man’s right to the fetus’s right, reflecting the rise of personhood ideology’.”SOURCE: RollingStone, by Tessa Stuart 23 September 2022