The moment the US Supreme Court released its decision overruling Roe v. Wade, pretty much everyone who closely follows constitutional law wondered which rights would be next on the chopping block. Justice Clarence Thomas stoked these fears with a concurring opinion calling for the Court to “reconsider” the rights to contraception, marriage for same-sex couples, and the right to choose who you have sex with (and whether those sexual partners share your gender). Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, published his own concurrence claiming many of these rights were safe.

An Alabama Supreme Court decision legally recognizing frozen embryos as children has reignited concerns and confusion about the future of fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization, with both sides recognizing the broader impact of the case.

The court on Friday ruled that frozen embryos — which are used in IVF — are considered unborn children. Alabama voters amended their state constitution in 2018 to give personhood rights to fetuses, and the court decision clarified that that language extends to frozen embryos.

In a landmark decision, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of protecting embryonic human life from wrongful death.

Embryos are created routinely through in vitro fertilization, a process by which ova are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory rather than in a woman’s body.

The process of creating and cryopreserving embryos can be dangerous for embryonic children, who often are destroyed intentionally or through neglect.