The Alabama Supreme Court, in the case of LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc. (Alabama SC - 2022-0515), has extended the definition of a "child" (at least in Alabama) to include embryos created via In Vitro Fertilization ("IVF"). In ruling that "frozen embryos are people" (cue Charlton Heston in Soylent Green) within the meaning of Alabama's "Wrongful Death of a Minor Act," and holding that people can be held legally responsible for the death of an "extrauterine child," the Alabama Supreme Court has effectively signaled the end of IVF as a medical service available to Alabama residents.
The whole reason for IVF (and the fertility clinics where IVF procedures are performed) is to assist couples who are having trouble getting pregnant but desperately want children. That desperation is manifest in their willingness to shell out big bucks for IVF treatments, which are very expensive but virtually never covered by either group or individual health insurance. Because a significant percentage of embryos created via fertilization of a woman's eggs outside her womb (i.e., "extrauterine embryos") do not survive implantation in her uterus, most couples who use IVF create (and then implant) multiple embryos to enhance the odds of a pregnancy. This also frequently results in excess embryos which, if not frozen for a future attempt at pregnancy, are either donated for medical research or discarded. Imagine an Alabama fertility clinic trying to operate in the face of a court ruling holding that the clinic can be sued for wrongful death if it discards excess embryos. Not happening.
The Alabama Supreme Court just told Alabama couples seeking help in getting pregnant to take a hike. ("You want a kid? Not in Alabama! It's God's will that you cannot have a kid.") How utterly Christian of them. Which is a tad ironic, given that the Court's opinion is littered with citations to Scripture.
This is the kind of consequence you can expect if Christian nationalism is allowed to play the role that people like Russell Vought and William Wolfe want it to play, and Donald Trump would be only too happy to let them do so.
newrepublic.com
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The whole reason for IVF (and the fertility clinics where IVF procedures are performed) is to assist couples who are having trouble getting pregnant but desperately want children. That desperation is manifest in their willingness to shell out big bucks for IVF treatments, which are very expensive but virtually never covered by either group or individual health insurance. Because a significant percentage of embryos created via fertilization of a woman's eggs outside her womb (i.e., "extrauterine embryos") do not survive implantation in her uterus, most couples who use IVF create (and then implant) multiple embryos to enhance the odds of a pregnancy. This also frequently results in excess embryos which, if not frozen for a future attempt at pregnancy, are either donated for medical research or discarded. Imagine an Alabama fertility clinic trying to operate in the face of a court ruling holding that the clinic can be sued for wrongful death if it discards excess embryos. Not happening.
The Alabama Supreme Court just told Alabama couples seeking help in getting pregnant to take a hike. ("You want a kid? Not in Alabama! It's God's will that you cannot have a kid.") How utterly Christian of them. Which is a tad ironic, given that the Court's opinion is littered with citations to Scripture.
This is the kind of consequence you can expect if Christian nationalism is allowed to play the role that people like Russell Vought and William Wolfe want it to play, and Donald Trump would be only too happy to let them do so.
Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling
The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is all but guaranteed to gut IVF in the entire state.
newrepublic.com
Opinion | Alabama’s embryos ruling is a terrifying preview of another Trump presidency
Should Trump win in 2024, those staffing his administration will deploy the same philosophy for the same brutal outcomes.
www.msnbc.com
