Virginia

Virginia judge uses a slavery law to rule frozen embryos are property

Published

2 years ago

March 10, 2023

Virginia judge uses a slavery law to rule frozen embryos are property

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Frozen human embryos can legally be thought of property, or “chattel,” a Virginia decide has dominated, basing his resolution partly on a Nineteenth-century legislation governing the therapy of slaves.

The preliminary opinion by Fairfax County Circuit Court docket Decide Richard Gardiner – delivered in a long-running dispute between a divorced husband and spouse – is being criticized by some for wrongly and unnecessarily delving right into a time in Virginia historical past when it was legally permissible to personal human beings.

“It is repulsive and it is morally repugnant,” stated Susan Crockin, a lawyer and scholar at Georgetown College’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics and an knowledgeable in reproductive know-how legislation.

Solomon Ashby, president of the Outdated Dominion Bar Affiliation, knowledgeable group made up primarily of African American legal professionals, known as Gardiner’s ruling troubling.

Embryos Slavery — A decide on the Fairfax County, Va., Courthouse, seen right here on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, has dominated that frozen embryos can legally be thought of property or “chattel,” basing his opinion partly on how state legislation handled slaves earlier than the Civil Conflict. The ruling by Fairfax County Circuit Court docket Decide Richard Gardiner is being criticized by some legal professionals for wrongly and unnecessarily delving into precedents from a time in Virginia historical past when it was legally permissible to personal human beings.

Matthew Barakat / AP

“I wish to suppose that the bench and the bar could be looking for extra trendy precedent,” he stated.

Gardiner didn’t return a name to his chambers Wednesday. His resolution, issued final month, just isn’t remaining: He has not but dominated on different arguments within the case involving Honeyhline and Jason Heidemann, a divorced couple preventing over two frozen embryos that stay in storage.

Honeyhline Heidemann, 45, needs to make use of the embryos. Jason Heidemann objects.

Initially, Gardiner sided with Jason Heidemann. The legislation on the coronary heart of the case governs methods to divide “items and chattels.” The decide dominated that as a result of embryos couldn’t be purchased or offered, they could not be thought of as such and due to this fact Honeyhline Heidemann had no recourse beneath that legislation to say custody of them.

However after the ex-wife’s lawyer, Adam Kronfeld, requested the decide to rethink, Gardiner carried out a deep dive into the historical past of the legislation. He discovered that earlier than the Civil Conflict, it additionally utilized to slaves. The decide then researched previous rulings that ruled custody disputes involving slaves, and stated he discovered parallels that compelled him to rethink whether or not the legislation ought to apply to embryos.

In a separate half of his opinion, Gardiner additionally stated he erred when he initially concluded that human embryos can’t be offered.

“As there isn’t any prohibition on the sale of human embryos, they might be valued and offered, and thus could also be thought of ‘items or chattels,’” he wrote.

Crockin stated she’s not conscious of every other decide within the U.S. who has concluded that human embryos could be purchased and offered. She stated the pattern, if something, has been to acknowledge that embryos should be handled in a extra nuanced approach than as mere property.

Ashby stated he was baffled that Gardiner felt a have to delve into slavery to reply a query about embryos, even when Virginia case legislation is skinny on methods to deal with embryo custody questions.

“Hopefully, the jurisprudence will advance within the commonwealth of Virginia such that … we are going to not see slave codes” cited to justify authorized rulings, he stated.

Neither of the Heidemanns’ legal professionals ever raised the slavery difficulty. They did elevate different arguments in assist of their circumstances, nonetheless.

Jason Heidemann’s legal professionals stated permitting his ex-wife to implant the embryos they created after they had been married “would pressure Mr. Heidemann to procreate in opposition to his needs and due to this fact violate his constitutional proper to procreational autonomy.”

Honeyhline Heidemann’s lawyer, Kronfeld, argued that Honeyhline’s proper to the embryos outweighs her ex-husband’s objections, partly as a result of he would don’t have any authorized obligations to be their guardian and partly as a result of she has no different choices to conceive organic youngsters after present process most cancers therapies that made her infertile.

Kronfeld additionally argued that the preliminary separation settlement the couple signed in 2018 already handled the embryos as property after they concurred — beneath a subheading titled “Division of Private Property” — that the embryos would stay in cryogenic storage till a court docket ordered in any other case.

Gardiner has not but dominated on the argument over Jason Heidemann’s procreational autonomy.

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Virginia

West Virginia Extends Offer to Alabama Transfer Linebacker Sterling Dixon

Published

4 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

West Virginia Extends Offer to Alabama Transfer Linebacker Sterling Dixon

West Virginia is getting in on the action for what will be one of the most coveted recruits in the transfer portal, sending out an offer to former Alabama freshman linebacker Sterling Dixon.

Dixon has also been contacted by Houston, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and a few others. He appeared in just three games this season, making one tackle, which came in their win over Western Kentucky. WVU is hoping to get a date for a visit nailed down soon.

He chose the Crimson Tide over offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCF, USC, and about a dozen others.

In his senior year at Spanish Fort High School, Dixon racked up 128 tackles, 32 tackles for loss, 32 hurries, 15 sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, one interception, and one pass breakup.

Dixon will have four years of eligibility remaining.

Virginia

VDOT crews treat roads in Northern Virginia, ask residents to stay off the roads

Published

12 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

VDOT crews treat roads in Northern Virginia, ask residents to stay off the roads

Virginia Department of Transportation crews pre-treated about 2000 miles worth of roads in Northern Virginia and has crews on standby ready to plow the snow that’s heading towards the area Monday.

“We should have around 3000 pieces of equipment out there ready to go, ready to attack the snow as it begins to really pile up overnight, and that is the forecast for some heavy snow,” said Alex Liggitt with VDOT.

Virginia State Police announced it’s already seen an increase in crashes in the southwestern part of the state, where conditions worsened earlier on Sunday.

Authorities are urging everyone to stay off the roads unless it’s absolutely essential to be out there. If you must travel, state police are asking drivers to make sure your car is in good working order with plenty of fuel, functioning windshield wipers and be sure to check the tread on your tires.

From VDOT, the more cars that are out there, the harder it is for them to do their job.

“This isn’t going to be, ‘Okay, we’re out there tonight, tomorrow morning and we’re done. We’re going home,’” Liggitt said. “Yeah, we’re likely going to be continuing to treat spots over the next several days.”

VDOT told News4 it’s responsible for 17,000 residential streets in Northern Virginia alone, so it’s asking residents to remain patient because it could be a couple of days before the streets in your neighborhood are treated.

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Virginia

West Virginia Mountaineers: Transfer 101: Ashton Woods

Published

20 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

West Virginia Mountaineers: Transfer 101: Ashton Woods

West Virginia has jumped into the transfer portal to address a need at the linebacker position with a commitment from North Carolina linebacker Ashton Woods.

Woods, 6-foot-3, 225-pounds, appeared in six games during his true freshman season for the Tarheels but did not record any statistics. A former four-star prospect that was rated as the 17th best linebacker prospect in the nation according to Rivals.com.

Prior to picking North Carolina, Woods held a long list of scholarship offers including USC, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Miami (Fla.), Auburn, Nebraska, Kentucky and a long list of other schools.

The Georgia native entered the transfer portal Dec. 27 and will have three years of eligibility remaining in his career.

WVSports.com breaks down the transfer of Woods and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers football program both now and in the future.

The data:

Woods only saw two defensive snaps in his true freshman season but brings a strong profile considering he tallied 151 tackles, eight sacks, 20 tackles for loss, two interceptions and two forced fumbles as a senior in high school.

The early enrollee has excellent size at the position and was able to see the field in his first year with the program which isn’t an easy thing to do.

Fitting the program:

West Virginia has only six true inside linebackers on the roster and one of those is a true freshman that means that as long as Woods is able to adjust quickly there are going to be chances for him to compete for time on the field.

Woods has the size and pedigree that you want to see out of young players that you pull from the transfer portal and that should translate to Morgantown.

It’s an addition from the state of Georgia where he played at an extremely high level in high school and now will have a chance to make the most of his opportunities. The fact that he will have at least three years remaining is critical.

Recruiting the position:

West Virginia still needs more experience at the linebacker position and the program has been active when it comes to searching for those options in the portal. Expect that to continue even with the addition of a high upside option like Woods.

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