National anti-choice organizations have been filing lawsuits against California's stem cell institute to prevent them from doing anything with donated blastocysts. The lawsuits are being consolidated to be heard by one judge in one county in order to expedite the process. The latest legal salvo is a federal lawsuit filed by the "National Association for the Advancement of Preborn Children" claiming the civil rights of blastocysts are violated by stem cell research. The lawsuit is widely considered to be moot but is causing delays in non-federal funding and sales of bonds to support the research. [emphasis added]

The suit was filed on behalf of Mary Scott Doe, a fictitious embryo produced by in vitro fertilization and then frozen and put into storage. Some of these embryos, which people have decided not to use in attempts to have children, have been donated for use in stem cell research, which involves destroying them.

The lawsuit claims the embryo is a person who should be given equal protection under the Constitution, and her destruction violates her right to freedom from slavery.