In an astonishing legal decision, the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court, entirely composed of nine Republican justices, have ruled that frozen embryos in a lab are now people.
Your Frozen Embryo is now a Child...
The ramifications of this decision are huge in an election year where conservative republicans are reeling from the electoral defeats they've suffered since 2022 when the republican-majority Supreme Court struck down Roe V. Wade in the Dobbs ruling.
I don't often wade into politics here on Hive as I find it ti be divisive, but I'm so astonished by this that I had to write about it.
This bizarre ruling sprang from a wrongful death case on behalf of three couples whose embryos were destroyed after a patient at a fertility clinic accidentally dropped the samples.
The "children" mentioned, were referred to using the monikers "Embryo A, B, C, and D". These were apparently the entities that were dropped onto the floor, thus suffering damage and/or contamination which gave cause for them to be destroyed. This is the act that birthed (so to speak) the current ruling.
The Alabama court based this ruling on their interpretation of The Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, which allows "parents of a deceased child to recover punitive damages for their child's death." The court is using this as an opportunity to attack IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) as a whole. It also changes what the legal definition of a child is. Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker invoked The Bible when he explained their decision:
"In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the people of Alabama encompasses the following: (1) God made every person in his image; (2) each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and (3) human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of his image as an affront to himself. Section 36.06 recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human-that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory."
What?
America was founded on the principles of a separation of church and state. We don't want to be ANYTHING like countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Afghanistan, which use religion as a way suppress their people.
Separation of church and state. It's as American as mom and apple pie.
However, this ruling amounts to a decision based on religion, not one based on the rule of law.
It appears that the republican party has declared a cultural 'War on Women' in their repeated attempts to control what women can do with their bodies.
Aftereffects and Fertility Clinics Halting Treatment
Since the ruling, 3 IVF fertility clinics have halted services in fear of the legal ramifications in the aftermath of the ruling, including The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system...
Cryoport, A large embryo shipping company, just announced that it's halting all operations in Alabama until they receive some clarity on the decision. This will prevent people with a need to ship an embryo out-of-state, from being able to do so.
Trust me, in the run-up to the 2024 elections, rulings such as this (remember, all nine of the justices are REPUBLICAN), are the last thing the Republican party needs, as they face the loss of support from women, centrists, and independents in the fall elections.
Just as with the 2022 Dobbs ruling, some Republicans who initially supported this inane ruling, are now backpedaling like crazy once they realized how it could hurt the party (and their electoral chances) in 2024.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley initially said that she agreed with the decision and that she thinks an embryo is a baby, before tweaking her response once she realized it could hurt her at the polls. Now she says the Alabama court "needs to go back and look at the law". Ya think it might also be because she used fertility treatments HERSELF, to have her OWN two children? The mind reels.
Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville danced all around the ruling, first saying "Yeah, I was all for it," before giving a series of confusing answers and saying "We need to have more kids."
Yeah, right, as Republicans they know this is bad for them but they don't know what to do about it. They're facing the impossible task of trying to please an extremist base of voters and the big donors who fund them, while also fearing the wrath of the moderates and centrists if they do.
I'm surprised that the "Christian" right would attack IVF. What's next, birth control?
If this nutty decision is left in place, just imagine the ramifications...
Now that fertility clinics are halting fertility care, women in Alabama are having to flee the state in order to seek treatment elsewhere. The question then becomes; will this legal contagion spread to other states?
Now that these frozen embryos are legally considered children, can they be counted as dependants on your tax returns? Will these "people" now be added to the population numbers when determining Congressional districts?
Picture a scenario where a brand-new fertility clinic wroker flips the wrong switch, and shuts down the cyrogenic coolers. Will they be charged as a mass-murderer? A driver is dealing with brake failure which causes his vehicle to crash into the side of a clinic, destroying the frozen embryos in the process. Is she charged with manslaughter? What do we do with unused or unviable frozen embryos? (we can't destroy them, after all, in Alabama they're "children"). Not to mention how this ruling may affect the futrue developments of artificial wombs.
See how many strange paths this decision can take?
Elections Matter
Reproductive rights are under attack nationwide by these bicycle-seat-sniffing nutjobs who want complete control over your body and your sex life. Americans need to step away from TikTok, register to vote, and realize that legislative and judicial elections matter, as well as elections for the people that select and confirm these jurists.
I will never forget watching African-Americans one after the other, go into the polls and vote for Barack Obama in 2008. I asked some of them "how did you vote? Did you vote for Democrats up and down the ticket?" They responded no, they just went in, selected Obama for President, and then left.
It never occurred to them that their candidate would need a majority in BOTH houses of Congress (which he had for only the first two years of his administration), to get bills passed and judges confirmed.
I thought everyone knew this. Apparently not.
Elections matter.
The Political Gift that Keeps on Giving; To Democrats that is...
The democratic party on the other hand, can't believe their good luck. In an election year where President Biden's verbal (and physical) stumbles have affected his polling numbers, the democrats couldn't be happier with this recent turn of events.
First the Republican-majority US Supreme Court's ruling on abortion by striking down Roe V. Wade in 2022, and now this anti-IVF ruling by an all-Republican Alabama state Supreme court decision, have left Republican politicians reeling, and figuring out how to respond.
They are beginning to realize that with their hardline stances on abortion and now, IVF treatments, they may have just handed not only the White House, but also both the Senate and House of Representatives as an election-day gift to the Democrats, all wrapped up real pretty-like with a bow. What do you think?
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Quite remarkable when Grubbermint makes arbitrary rules regardless of their political optics.
I'm surprised that in today's Corporate sellout of both parties that they didn't refer to the embryos as "product" and allow for a write off of inventory & grubbermint subsidies.
Considering both sides of poly-tics loves killing their own & others via conflicts just demonstrates how monstrous a species we are.
The pendulum swings between the sanctity of life to the commoditisation of body parts & rights.
I guess in the Halls of Justice someone is seeking a dollar compensation.
All Life is Sacred & Grubbermint should leave bodily autonomy up to the individual & the Contracts should be clear as to the terms of reference.
The outcome seems rather problematic for the poor person who dropped the sample & the expectations of the "parents"/"owners" which seems more
of a commercial contract problem at its root.
Grubbermint & Courts should back off as their track record on Human Life is horrendous.
For a second there, I read it as "terms of reverence" and thought "Yeah, that seems about right. It seems that no matter how many times they keep getting knocked off that bicycle, they hop right back on bound and determined to take more of our autonomy away. That's why we've got to stay vigilent.
I'm sort of s stickler to the meaning of words because if you are going to debate something, if you can't agree on basic definitions then you are just talking at each other.
A human embryo by definition is in fact a human being. Whether or not a human in that state of development should have the right to life is perhaps another question.
I'm not sure if "wrongful death" is the best legal pursuit in this case but certainly people don't freeze embryos for fun. Their loss was certainly expensive and very possibly personally devastating. The loss of those embryos could make a difference in whether those couples have children or not. My personal view is those couples are due significant financial compensation (probably from the company more so that the individuals involved in the accident). But again, not saying "wrongful death" should necessarily be applicable in this case. Keep in mind that this is a civil case an not a criminal one.
Also, I don't think this is just a religious issue. It is a moral (regardless of religion), philosophical and practical one as well. I think we all agree that in this country a person has the right to life. The question then is when does this right begin? At conception? At birth? Somewhere in between? Later? You have to draw that line somewhere. Unfortunately, science doesn't give us an exact answer as to when human consciousness begins so what criteria do we use? I've seen arguments from some psychologists that suggest that this (self awareness) doesn't really happen until around age 2. This isn't something that is exactly definitive though. I don't think strict abortion laws will result in a positive outcome. Having said that, you have to be able to define when the right to life begins (and why).
Also, this question has nothing to do with a "war on women". This is another argument that is designed to do nothing but shut down discussion. The average pro-life individual isn't thinking to themselves, "how can I control women today?". There are two bodies involved in this question, not one. The only question is whether or not that second body has a basic right to life and if so, starting when? and if it is sometime before birth, is this more important than the right of someone to do what they want with their body?
Now as to why politicians do what they do, that's an entirely different subject.
What is the fascination that conservatives have with women's wombs? Why are their noses always snooping around in there as if they have the right to control what a woman does with her body? Abortion decisions are between a woman and her doctor. Decisions on fertility are between a woman (or a couple) and a doctor. That's it.