Manage Account

In the wake of <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/blog/on-ivf-alabama-and-frozen-babies">the recent Alabama State Supreme Court ruling</a> that declared frozen human embryos are human beings under Alabama law, there have been several memes shared online denying this fact of biology. One says:

First, we know these embryos are human because they have human DNA and human parents. Many animal species go through the embryonic stage of life, and if an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic put a non-human embryo in a mother’s body they would be guilty of gross malpractice.
Second, we know these human embryos are alive because they are growing or able to grow by cellular reproduction. The cryogenic freezing process halts their growth, but not their capacity for growth. They are alive since IVF clinics recognize that accidentally-thawed embryos have died (and so cannot be implanted) while frozen embryos are still capable of growing.
Third, microscopic animals like tardigrades and rotifers have evolved an ability to survive being frozen (<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-revive-tiny-animals-spent-24000-years-ice-180977928/">even for thousands of years</a>). Humans do not have this ability, so it can only be accomplished through the use of technology.
When cells freeze, they form sharp ice crystals that destroy cells just like a knife pops a balloon. The reason frozen food tastes worse than fresh food is because the freezing process has already killed some of the cells in what you’re eating. <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-embryos-survive-th/">Collections of up to about 100 human cells can be successfully frozen by using cryoprotectants that act as an anti-freeze to prevent cellular “freezer burn”.</a>
One day this could be used to preserve human organs, but for now those structures are too large and complex to undergo the necessary cryoprotection process to safely freeze them. The possibility that this problem will be solved in the future has even led some people to freeze their entire body (<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/200-frozen-heads-and-bodies-await-revival-at-this-arizona-cryonics-facility-180980981/">or even just their heads</a>) after death, hoping that future medical science could revive them.
To summarize: our ability to keep very young human beings alive in conditions that would kill older human beings does not disprove those young human beings are alive. Indeed, it proves they are alive. And if they are living, human beings, then we should treat them humanely. One way to do that would be choosing not to put these human beings into inhumane cold storage in the first place.

Frozen Embryos Are Living Humans

Patrick Coffin explains the main differences between natural family planning and artificial contraception, comparing the difference to that between dieting and bulimia.