The Legislature moved to protect the services after the court ruling
Why We Remember, a talk by Rommel Wood and George W. Bush about the birth of an embryo and the protection of providers from lawsuits
NPR’s people consider themselves lifelong learners. It can be difficult to learn a new skill. Ask Me Another contestants told Rommel Wood which was their best advice for learning a new skill. Think about something you want to learn and try these tips:
He’s more interested in what we remember than in what we forget. In his new book, Why We Remember, he talks about the basics of memory.
Republicans came up with a proposal that dealt with lawsuit protections rather than addressing legal status of embryos. The legislation would protect providers from prosecution and civil lawsuits over the death of an embryo or the damage to it.
The Up First Podcast: An Update on Hunter Biden and the Alabama Supreme Court’s Decline that Fetus is an Unborn Child
President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors today in the impeachment inquiry into his father. House Republicans have long been focused on Hunter Biden, who has previously refused to testify privately.
Former President Donald Trump handily defeated Nikki Haley last night in Michigan’s Republican primary. The state’s Democratic electorate remains divided despite President Biden winning his contest. More than 100,000 people cast “uncommitted” votes to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. The turnout exceeded the 10,000 vote goal set by Listen to Michigan, a group that wants Biden to call for an immediate cease-fire and stop sending U.S. aid to Israel.
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Those on both sides of the abortion debate attributed the pause to fallout from the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children.
If it moves ahead, the bill would add Florida to the ranks of about a dozen other states that allow parents to receive financial damages in some instances when a fetus has died. The bill says in cases of wrongful death, parents of an “unborn child” are considered survivors who can sue in civil court.
But in recent weeks, Democrats and others warned that the bill amounts to “fetal personhood,” assigning full rights of a person to a fetus. Such a designation would endanger doctors and anyone who helped women in obtaining an abortion, and would also hurt fertility treatments.
“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I know there is still work that needs to be done,” Senator Grall said in a statement. “It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance.”
The Alabama ruling prompted abortion opponents like former President Donald J. Trump and several Republican governors to underscore their support for I.V.F.
Critics feared that I.V.F. could affect fertility treatments and make it harder to have children, because the Florida bill did not mention it.
“It’s fair to assume that I.V.F. was a problem for this bill from the jump,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor and historian at the University of California, Davis, who used to teach at Florida State University. After the ruling, the amount of backlash and concern increased significantly. It turned into a fire.
The Alabama Chief Justice Restricted on Embryos “Before I Were Born, I Guaranteed” and Its Implications for Fertilization and Parenthood
We are checking access and would appreciate it if you were patient while we do it. If you’re in Reader mode, exit your Times account and subscribe for all of The Times.
The majority opinion on the Alabama court uses the theological basis of the solicitude for “extrauterine children” to say so. In a concurring opinion in which he referred to embryos as “little people,” Tom Parker, Alabama’s chief justice, rested his analysis on what’s become known as the Sanctity of Unborn Life Amendment that Alabama voters added to the state’s constitution in 2018. “It is as if the people of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you,’” the chief justice wrote.
Yarbrough tried to change the bill so that it would prohibit clinics from throwing away unused or missing embryos after genetic testing.
I and a lot of other Members of the House care about this. Gidley said that once it is fertilized, it starts to grow even if it isn’t in a woman’s uterus.
A Democratic lawmaker said the state, which has a stringent abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, has spent too much time interfering with the decisions of women.
Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said lawmakers may be able to provide a temporary solution through legislation but a long-term solution must address the 2018 constitutional amendment, which he said essentially established “personhood” for embryos.
More than 200 IVF patients filled the Statehouse on Wednesday pressuring lawmakers to get IVF services restarted in the state. Lawmakers were shown fertility treatments and how the ruling halted their path to parenthood.
LeeLee Ray had to undergo multiple surgeries and multiple abortions in hopes of having a child, and then turned to surrogacy to have a child. She can’t have her embryos transferred to her since they can’t move theirs out of state, but she and her husband found a surrogate through a matching program.
The US state of Alabama is considering legislation to protect clinics and doctors from prosecution and civil lawsuits over the death of embryos or the damage to them. This comes after Alabama’s highest court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered “children”. The bill will protect providers from prosecution and civil lawsuits over the death of an embryo or the damage to it.