#MarilynLands, a Dem who made #ReproductiveRights a centerpiece of her campaign in deeply #conservative#Alabama, won a special election to the Alabama Legislature.
Lands’ victory in the suburban district in the #DeepSouth state was celebrated by #Democrats who have attempted to portray the state #GOP as too extreme on #abortion & reproductive rights.
In his SOTU, President Joe Biden called out attacks on abortion and IVF. In the video linked below, Robert P. Jones notes that only 9% of Americans support a total ban on abortion. 64% say abortion should be legal in most or all cases. This is why Republicans want to hedge on what they have held up to now about IVF — which is a direct consequence of their insistence that a human person is present from the moment of conception.
"Few Republicans have opined on whether discarding leftover embryos is illegal or immoral — or whether there should be federal protections for IVF.
One explanation for the silence: 125 House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), co-sponsored a bill last year declaring that life begins at 'the moment of fertilization.'"
~ Zachary Basu
You can't have it both ways, once you say a "baby" is present at the moment of conception.
"Despite lip service claiming they support IVF, Senate Republicans refused to give unanimous consent to a bill proposed by Senator Tammy Duckworth to protect IVF. See WaPo, Senate Republican blocks bill to protect IVF after Alabama ruling (Accessible to all.) …
The extreme positions adopted by the far-right religious fundamentalists are reaching their absurd logical conclusions…."
"I never thought I’d be grateful to the Alabama Supreme Court for anything, but now I am. With its decision deeming frozen embryos to be children under state law, that all-Republican court has done the impossible. It has awakened the American public, finally, to the peril of the theocratic future toward which the country has been hurtling."
The AL #legislature voted Thurs to #protect#doctors doing IVF from #criminal or #civil#liability if #embryos they help to create are subsequently damaged or destroyed.
The fast action by both the House & Senate on bills to shield IVF came >2 wks after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that #FrozenEmbryos are people & that individuals could be liable for destroying them.
Singleton accused his colleague of relying too heavily on clinics &trial #lawyers in writing the measure,granting #doctors#immunity but not female #patients.
“We’re getting into a deep subj as far as when life begins & #abortion,” said Melson,a #Republican. “I’m not trying to take anybody’s rights away. I’m just trying to help these ladies. I’m sympathetic to their cause…”
Sen LarryStutts (R), an #OBGYN &the bill’s sponsor,…said discarded #embryos are “a small, small percentage”…. #law#Alabama
In addition to a 17th-century Dutch theologian (Petrus van Mastricht) and the King James bible, one of the authorities cited by Alabama chief justice Parker in his ruling on IVF is the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas. Parker's ruling cites Aquinas six times.
As someone with an M.A. and Ph.D. in historical theology — from a Catholic university — I know a little about Aquinas. Here are some salient points:
• Aquinas' neoscholastic theology was long the foundation of Catholic theology in general.
• Aquinas' natural-law theology, which draws heavily on the philosophy of Aristotle (and on Aristotle's biological assumptions), remains foundational for official Catholic teaching about sexual morality.
• This theology teaches that "nature" demonstrates, if we think about it, that the purpose of sexual intercourse is reproduction.
#Republican legislators in FL hit the pause button on a bill that would have given any “#unborn child” new #protections after opponents raised concerns it would impact women’s #ReproductiveRights in ways similar to the AL IVF ruling.
The #Florida bill’s derailment comes as #Republicans grapple w/the #political fallout from the #Alabama Supreme Court ruling declaring #embryos children. While many in the #GOP were initially quiet on the ruling, #conservative lawmakers are now voicing their support for #IVF. The issue underscores the party’s election-year challenges over #women’s #ReproductiveRights.
Justice #TomParker, who made the #Alabama ruling regarding #embryos, had this to say last week: "God created government, and the fact that 'we' have let it go into the possession of 'others' is heartbreaking...." He believes in the Seven Mountain Mandate, a doctrine which calls on #Christians to control the "seven mountains" of society.
My wife got up with just a coffee. I have to make us some breakfast. I'll peek back and see if you've gotten enough coffee to talk sensible to the crazy folks in Alabama.
MENU
Ham Sandwiches $5:50
Tiny baby chicken Sandwiches $4:50
Coffee (not until you finish your baby sandwich)
#Alabama Lawmakers Move to Protect #IVF Treatments
A court ruling declaring frozen #embryos to be legally considered children has set off a scramble among leaders in both parties to preserve access to a crucial reproductive treatment.
#Alabama lawmakers are considering #legislation that would protect #IVF, after a…ruling last wk led some clinics to halt treatments & left many #women in limbo.
The ruling, which declared frozen #embryos should be legally considered children, set off a scramble among ldrs in both parties to preserve access to a crucial reproductive treatment for #families who struggle w/ #infertility & for #LGBTQ+ couples seeking to have children.
The court’s ruling, handed down by an 8-to-1 majority, applies only to 3 couples who were suing a #fertility clinic over the accidental destruction of their #embryos. But its wording — paired w/a fiery blatantly [#religious] opinion from the chief justice encouraging lawmakers to push its scope further — has left many wondering about the possible wider implications for people seeking #IVF treatment.
#JimWright / #StoneKettle
wrote:
"If you're a #Republican in #Alabama, frozen eggs are way better than actual children.
They don't need food, or clothing, or a decent place to live, or education, or medical care, or clean #water or breathable #air, they don't talk back & you don't have to worry they might not believe in your religion or won't conform to your preacher man's idea of gender, sex, & identity.
Frozen #embryos are the perfect Republican."
A third #Alabama#IVF clinic has halted treatment as the fallout from last week’s state Supreme Court ruling that frozen #embryos are legally #children continues to disrupt IVF access across the state.
The Center for Reproductive Medicine in Mobile, 1 of just 7 IVF clinics statewide, announced Thurs that it had paused IVF procedures in light of the court ruling.
The court ruling by the all-#Republican justices held that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applied to all unborn children, without exceptions, & called frozen #embryos “extrauterine children.” The decision has alarmed #medical professionals & #ReproductiveRights advocates, who criticized it as being grounded in #religion & not #science.
What I missed at first, and then read somewhere, is that these are not #embryos, but zygotes. If the law really pertains to zygotes, women’s ovaries would be owned by the state, and getting a hysterectomy would be a criminal act. And can’t just bust on female zygotes: gotta clamp down on all those sperm swimming around. Not to mention the ones jettisoned into socks, and condoms, and random pies.