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Virginia judge cites slavery precedent to rule that frozen embryos can be sold as ‘chattels’

Updated: March 10, 2023 at 3:57 pm EST  See Comments

Fri Mar 10, 2023 – 3:28 pm EST

FAIRFAX COUNTY (LifeSiteNews) — A judge presiding over a custody dispute involving frozen embryos drew a chilling parallel to the days of slavery in his deliberations, inadvertently highlighting the dark history of legally devaluing human life.

Newsmax reports that the case concerns Honeyhline Heidemann, who wants to implant frozen embryos created with her ex-husband, Jason Heidemann, who objects on the grounds that it “would force [him] to procreate against his wishes and therefore violate his constitutional right to procreational autonomy.”

Mrs. Heidemann contends that implantation is her only means of having children because cancer treatments left her infertile, her ex-husband would not be obligated to parent the children, and that the couple had agreed in writing that the embryos were “property” to be dispensed through the separation process.

This week, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner issued a preliminary opinion on one of the arguments. Though initially siding with the ex-husband, Gardiner was persuaded by the ex-wife’s argument that a Civil War-era law governing the division of “goods and chattels” had once applied to human slaves. “As there is no prohibition on the sale of human embryos,

The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News

The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Official Street Preachers or its editors

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