Sarah F. Corning
Sarah F. Corning

Sarah Corning (she/her) is a 3L at Stanford Law School, where she researches and writes on issues of reproductive rights and justice, gender, and free speech. During law school, she has worked for the California DOJ Civil Rights Enforcement Section and the American Civil Liberties Union. After graduating, she plans to continue her work in reproductive freedom litigation.

Columns by Sarah F. Corning
“Extrauterine Children” and Other Nonsense Wrought by the Fetal Personhood Movement

Stanford Law visiting professor Joanna L. Grossman and 3L Sarah F. Corning comment on the Alabama Supreme Court’s questionable ruling in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine that frozen embryos qualify as children under the state’s wrongful death statute, effectively granting embryos full personhood status, a decision aligned with anti-abortion efforts to establish fetal personhood legally. Professor Grossman and Ms. Corning point out that this ruling reflects broader national debates and legal challenges around fetal personhood and poses significant implications for reproductive rights, fertility treatments, and the legal recognition of embryos and fetuses. They suggest that it could even lead to the restriction or closure of fertility treatment centers in Alabama and influence future court interpretations related to abortion and reproductive technologies.