(Life News) A Virginia judge dehumanized human embryos in a recent opinion when he quoted a 19th century law about owning slaves to argue that humans at their earliest stage of life can be considered property.
The Associated Press reports Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner published the preliminary opinion in February in response to a divorced couple who are fighting about the fate of their two frozen embryos.
The mother, Honeyhline Heidemann, wants to implant the embryos and give them a chance at life, but the father and ex-husband, Jason Heidemann, does not, according to the Daily Wire. He argued that doing so would “force” him “to procreate against his wishes and therefore violate his constitutional right to procreational autonomy.”
The judge has not made a final decision about their case yet, but, in his preliminary opinion in February, Gardiner argued that the embryos should be considered property, not children. In part, he based his decision on a Virginia law from the 1800s that treated human slaves as “goods and chattel,” according to the report. (Read More)