Featured in the AllPaths Magazine, 2025 Volume 1
by Kate Weldon LeBlanc
You likely have heard or read about so-called “personhood” bills being considered across the United States. Perhaps this has left you wondering what they are and how they may impact people trying to grow much wanted families. Though I am neither lawyer nor physician, I want to try to help answer some key questions about the significant legal implications of policies regarding embryos. This is not about how you may personally feel about embryos – your own or in general.
What is meant by personhood?
The term personhood is essentially shorthand for granting the legal rights of a “human being” at the moment of fertilization or conception.
What impact would these laws have on fertility treatment?
Laws like these would give legal rights to an embryo and would grant the embryo equal standing under the law as a living person. This jeopardizes the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) as we know it today…