BABY PARRISH SUCCEEDS CONNER PETERSON:

Embryo Ruling Could Have Ripple Effect (LINDSEY TANNER, 2/09/05, AP)

All Alison Miller and Todd Parrish wanted was to become parents. But when a fertility clinic didn't preserve a healthy embryo they had hoped would one day become their child, they sued for wrongful death.

A judge refused to dismiss their case, ruling in effect that a test-tube embryo is a human being and that the suit can go forward.

Though most legal experts believe the ruling will be overturned, some in the fertility business worry it could have a chilling effect, threatening everything from in vitro fertilization to abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

"If the decision stands, it could essentially end in vitro fertilization," said Dr. Robert Schenken, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Few doctors would risk offering the procedure if any accident that harmed the embryo could result in a wrongful death lawsuit, said Schenken, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

You'd think we've enough unwanted babies that we could do without IVF.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 13, 2005 6:29 PM