Decision

I have uploaded the 131-page decision by the Alabama Supreme Court decision (SC-2022-0515; SC-2022-0579) which describes why the Court ruled that embryos kept in a cryogenic nursery fell under Alabama's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act (Alabama Code 1975, Section 6-5-391); a 2011 Alabama Supreme Court decision in Mack v. Carmack; a 2012 Court decision in Hamilton v. Scott; and, longstanding criminal prohibition on partial-birth abortions (Alabama Code 1975, Section 26-23-3) .

On the "Illustrative Appellate Court Cases" page of this site (Section: Church / State Separation > Evolution of "Establishment Clause" Legal Thought), I stated that "[w]hen reading and analyzing court case decisions, the most important things to understand are the specific case facts and how the case facts align with the law (including legal precedent.)"  It appears that this is precisely what the Alabama Supreme Court did. Ergo, it is not the decision that was wrong; but, that the laws relied upon were both conservative and antiquated.

According to page 11 of the Decision, the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act allows "the parents of a deceased child to bring a claim seeking punitive damages '[w]hen the death of a minor child is caused by the wrongful act, omission, or negligence of any person," provided that they do so within six months of the child's passing."  The Act was first enacted in 1872 [1][2].

In 2011, the Alabama Supreme Court held "that an unborn child qualifies as a "minor Child" regardless of that child's viability or stage of development. (Mack v. Carmack; 79 So. 3rd 597) The 2011 decision was affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court in 2012 (Hamilton v. Scott, 97 So. 3rd 728). In Hamilton v. Scott, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that "Alabama's wrongful-death statute allows an action to be brought for the wrongful death of an unborn child" (IVF court decision, pp 11, 12).

An internet search of Alabama Code 1975, Section 26-23-3 within Justia Law (https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2020/title-26/chapter-23/section-26-23-3/) identified 2020 Code of Alabama Title 26 - Infants and Incompetents. Chapter 23 - Alabama Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997. Section 26-23-3 - Felony Conviction (AL Code § 26-23-3 (2020)). Section 26-23-3 states "[a]ny physician who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion within this state and thereby kills a human fetus shall be guilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as prescribed by law." 

In Summary, the Alabama Supreme Court relied on three specific laws when deciding that embryos kept in a cryogenic nursery were considered a human fetus; and, that persons responsible for the destruction of said fetuses were guilty of a felony in the state of Alabama. 

Notes:

[1]  The Comstock Act passed by Congress to make it illegal to send "obscene, lewd or lascivious, immoral, or indecent" publications through the mail was enacted in 1873, 1 year after the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act was enacted. The Comstock Act is said to have been used to develop anti-abortion laws. For more on the Comstock Act of 1873, please refer to the Free Speech Center website at: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/comstock-act-of-1873/

[2]  Starting in 1857 and continuing through 1880, the American Medical Association['s] (AMA) crusade against abortion resulted in laws being adopted or amended in 34 out of 40 states and territories, making abortion a felony at any stage during a pregnancy.  

Most abortions and live births in the period before the Civil War were supervised by midwives, women who developed a reputation for skill based on experience. Male doctors, known as "regulars," primarily treated patients by bleeding them or by poisoning them with calomel (mercury), laudanum, and similar drugs. the regulars were the group that was able to gain control over medicine during the 19^th century.... Largely comprised of men from upper-class or professional backgrounds, they felt entitled by birth to be in charge of any field they pursued.... In 1847, they formed the American Medical Association (AMA).... In 1857, [the] AMA members ... launch[ed] a campaign in 1857 to make early-stage abortion illegal. [T]he stated purpose was to prevent the immorality they perceived in the growing number of abortions being performed....Another social factor that may have influenced many physicians in their 19^th-century crusade against abortion was their attitudes about women's rights.... The AMA's crusade from 1860 to 1880 resulted in laws being adopted or amended in 34 out of 40 states and territories, making abortion a felony at any stage during a pregnancy. (pp 40-42, 46 of 67 within the "A Social History of Christian Thought on Abortion" treatise uploaded to this site at Abortion Rights > Abortion in Historical Perspective. The actual treatise can be found at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/45129365)