Alabama cares deeply about frozen embryos. The health of children and adults? Not so much.
Now that the Alabama Supreme Court has decided frozen embryos are children under state law, the state can start treating them the way it treats non-embryonic children and adults: terribly.
In a ruling last week, the court said embryos used for in vitro fertilization are people. That means a person could be held liable for destroying them, putting IVF clinics throughout the state in an immediate bind and the future of IVF services in jeopardy.
In a concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote: “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.”
Does Alabama value the lives of those living in poverty?
OK. Let’s take that troublingly theocratic language and apply it the humans in Alabama who are not presently kept in a freezer.
If each person "has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate," then please explain why a 2022 Census data analysis by 24/7 Wall Street ranked Alabama the fifth-worst state for children living in poverty, with a child-poverty rate of 22.7%.
The analysis also found Alabama has the sixth-highest percentage of children receiving food stamps benefits, at 6.6%.
That doesn’t sound like human life is being properly valued. Not at all.
What about my embryo? An embryo that could be my second child is in Alabama. A court just put that in jeopardy.
Terrible health outcomes for people of incalculable value? Sounds odd.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, Alabama had an infant mortality rate of 7.56 deaths per 1,000 live births, the third worst state in America.
According to the Alabama Public Health, Black women in the state “have double the infant mortality rate than white women, highlighting racial and ethnic disparities present for expecting mothers to overcome.”
A Georgetown University study found that in Alabama, about 1 in 6 women of reproductive age (18-44) doesn't have health insurance: "This was the fifth-highest uninsured rate in the country in 2021.”
Yet Alabama has not taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion – an odd way to preserve lives that are of incalculable value.
If every person is made in God's image, why does Alabama target transgender kids?
Alabama's chief justice argued in the ruling, one that may now be mirrored in other states, that “God made every person in His image.” So why are Alabama lawmakers advancing legislation that would define men and women by their reproductive anatomy and strip rights away from transgender people?
Wouldn’t a transgender person, like a frozen embryo, be made in God’s image and thus entitled to every right of personhood?
Good luck to families: So you thought Republicans were going to help families in an election year? Nope.
Why has Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey taken it upon herself, by signing two bills, to declare that transgender athletes cannot compete in K-12 or college sports that align with their gender identity.
If the transgender athletes have “value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate,” shouldn’t they be entitled to all the rights afforded cisgender people or, for that matter, frozen embryos?
If embryos are people, why doesn't Alabama see all people as sacred?
Chief Justice Parker wrote in defense of the embryos that “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.”
Last month, Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Smith using nitrogen gas to asphyxiate him.
A USA TODAY report on the execution said: “The execution took about 22 minutes. Smith appeared to convulse and shake vigorously for about four minutes after the nitrogen gas apparently began flowing through his mask. It was another two to three minutes before he appeared to lose consciousness, all while gasping for air to the extent that the gurney shook several times.”
Was that not “the destruction of His image”? Is that not an affront to one who believes humans have value that “far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate”?
Alabama’s attorney general on Wednesday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for another death row inmate, again using nitrogen gas.
Frozen embryos in Alabama would be wise to never leave the freezer
I’m neither a legal expert nor a religious one. But based on the way Alabama’s high court and the state in general handle life, I’d recommend those embryos now deemed people stay put in the freezer. It’s a lot safer in there.
About the minute you start breathing in Alabama, they stop caring about you.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama ruling puts IVF at risk, treats embryos better than citizens
