Alabama rules IVF embryos are people
Controlling women has always been the goal; the connection between abortion bans and IVF clinics
I’m sure we all expected the abortion conversation to skyrocket during an election year but I doubt IVF embryos were at the top of anyone’s debate bingo card. Alabama has passed one of the harshest bans in the nation without a clause for women even in the case of incest or rape. As soon as Roe vs. Wade was overturned, the law went into effect. 14 other states share these strict policies. State leaders played the long game, prepping laws to automatically trigger if Roe was ever overturned.
To catch you up:
A fertility clinic in Alabama lost embryos during an accident. Three families sued the clinic with the intention to define embryos as children and they won1. Human to human, I can understand the absolute pain and sadness of losing embryos. Women go through horrific pain in the IVF process, spending tens of thousands of dollars to ensure they can have a baby in the future. The egg banks are mission critical for that effort. I am so thankful that science enables women to have babies who would otherwise be unable to do so. We are so very lucky to live in a time where miracles are possible. My heart aches for these families, for their pain and suffering, for the potential loss of ever experiencing pregnancy and birth.
On the other hand, I am deeply grieved for what this means for women at large. One of the largest losses is to the infertility community because Alabama’s clinics immediately paused all services or closed. Due to the state naming embryos as children, clinics are now facing the potential of civil suits for murder or otherwise. Absolutely devastating consequences for the rest of women who hope to implant embryos or move forward in their process. And I am sensitive to the pro-life and pro-choice debate. My friends and family run the gamut on that front.
In their quest to end abortion with zero support systems in place for women, the pro-life community continues to push us toward the brink of insanity by defining embryos and fetuses as people, leaving women exposed to dangerous prosecution. Here are few examples:
A beautiful and brutal year in the life of a woman denied an abortion
An Alabama woman was imprisoned for ‘endangering’ her fetus. She gave birth in a jail shower
These states are using fetal personhood to put women behind bars
Woman spends eight years in prison before SC state supreme court overturned her conviction
She was jailed for losing a pregnancy - her nightmare could become more common
Before I go on, a few caveats.
For the key power players, ending Roe has always been about control, not saving the vulnerable. Women are barely in the room (look it up!) when these policies are drafted and enforced, and we can draw the direct line from harsh abortion policies to IVF embryos in jeopardy. And that’s why I’m talking about both. I’ve had an abortion and understand the personal pain of this decision. (Listen to my story and perspective and/or read it.) Abortion has been steadily on the decline since it’s peak in 19902. I’ve studied this issue for years because of its impact on women. Through recovery groups and pastoral care relationships, I’ve served hundreds of women in their healing journey post-abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth. I am practicing what I preach here, accepting and understanding the nuances of external factors like domestic violence, poverty, addiction, complicated medical issues, and more on women’s decision to abort.
My love for the south knows no bounds. The southeast is my home and after 22 years in Los Angeles and Manhattan, our family has settled in North Carolina. Major cities tend to paint the South as a bit backwoods, dismissing the culture, diversity, justice, and down-home goodness present here. To be honest, I witnessed more racism in Manhattan than I have ever seen in the south and if you don’t live in the right zip code in major cities, your kid’s education and your family’s health is in jeopardy. (Someday, I’ll writer about city inspectors coming to our apartment door forcing blood tests because children in our building were getting lead poisoning left and right.)
And don’t get me started on the kind of progressivism coastal elites possess that is the most dangerous to justice. (If you’ve ever talked about justice on the internet, then you also know that no one will get in your DM’s like a white liberal on a bender.) And the truth is, no matter gender or ethnicity, there is a side of the justice camp that is as unforgiving and fundamentalist as the other side they hate. And if you do not line up on every issue, you can take your ball and go home because nobody wants to play with you.
People of faith do not fit neatly in a political party.
I respect democracy and your right to choose a party, a candidate, or a stance on an important issue. I just hope we don’t make party affiliation a key part of our identity. It’s why voting as an independent works for me. I want the best candidate who will use our tax dollars to serve constituents. I want the least racist, sexist, and classist judges. I want the mom who gets it on the school board not a book-banning psycho in a Moms for Liberty sweatshirt. I want people in congress who care how we treat refugees and immigrants at our borders. I want a President who nominates diverse people to cabinet positions and judgeships.
And yes, sometimes my personal convictions make me struggle - I don’t think Trump or Biden are the best candidates to lead America but here we are again, and if you think I’m voting for a criminal candidate who is a serial sexual abuser, there’s not a chance in hell I’d ever vote for Trump’s tactless, insurrection-inciting, immigrant-hating behind. The best out of two bad options is sometimes all we have.
Perhaps abortion is the issue that best demonstrates the extreme ends of the political and faith spectrum while forcing us to face complexities and nuance.
Staunchly pro-life evangelicals must now reckon with the consequences of those actions. The end of Roe means that states can end or severely limit IVF treatments, and personally, I’d like to know who is thinking about the line between naming embryos people and forcing implantation or adoption of embryos on parents. Where does the madness end?
Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, a respected and well-known evangelical scholar, wrote an op-ed reflecting on her own advocacy to end Roe about creating a world where abortion is unnecessary. She did not, however, address the fact that there is no tangible evidence in evangelical history to back the claim that evangelicals are not just anti-abortion.
In fact, much of the Republican party (and surprisingly, Christians) back policies that do not support people in poverty, those struggling with addiction, the issue of immigrant babies and children at our borders, or mother care post-birth. (And Democrats can’t say a word because maternity leave is barely a thing in America and I hold them responsible as well.) I remind you that in 24 states in America still have a minimum wage of $7.25 or less (GA and WY clock in at $5.15 per hour) and 13 more states have a minimum wage between $10 and $12. We could reasonably argue that when it comes to policies that care for children, families, and especially women after birth, quality of life is not a value at all.
Almost 12 million children are living in poverty in America and 40% of the nation lives at or below the poverty line. So everyone please spare us the rhetoric about family.
I took the Guttmacher Institute’s current state policy map on abortion and layered it with states who do not pay a living wage. The overlap is telling.
As sister Joan Chittister said, "I do not believe that just because you are opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, a child educated, a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
So what do we do?
First, be a safe place for women. Studies estimate that one in four women have had an abortion. (Though this stat is based on older data so it may be higher or lower now.) Do your best to be sensitive on the internet and in crowds because you never know who in your circle or family has experienced this. Same goes for infertility. One in four women struggle. If you’re often running off at the mouth or posting polarizing things on either of these topics, stop. And if you’re around people who post and say painful things, speak up. Let’s love women in our world well.
Second, give a shit about local elections. Thank you for voting in primaries and the presidential election, but its congress who makes laws; state and city leaders who determine the zip codes and judicial, economic, and education realities where you live. State and local elections tend to have a low voter turnout but that’s where the magic happens. If you care about these restrictions or the potential for laws that might limit or end IVF treatments, speak up. Read up on policy makers and vote your heart out.
Third, raise your voice. Call legislators. Write them letters about the things you care about. Host a night in your home to talk about challenging issues and seek understanding from others who think differently than you. Make sure you’ve read a few things (that are not from polarizing pundits and preachers) before you post or speak.
Fourth, resist legislating your version of morality onto others. (Or the night in your home will surely go sideways.) I am so proud of a theological paper I wrote recently called Autonomy Distinguishes Love from Control because free will is a gift from God and at the center of love. God gives guidance but God lets us choose. Please accept the reality that you are not in control of others attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs. Grow in your capacity to respect people along the ideological perspective and stop expending so much energy trying to get people to be like you. Love is more powerful than control.
We are living in a wild time in history, friend, but we are agents of change and conduits of love. We can hold our convictions with compassion. We can think through the repercussions of policies that break down to a real person.
Don’t grow weary in doing good.
In Solidarity,
Ashley
https://apnews.com/article/alabama-frozen-embryos-ivf-storage-questions
https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/06/long-term-decline-us-abortions-reverses-showing-rising-need-abortion-supreme-court
Thank you, Ashley, for this vital and well-written piece. You are a treasure.
Hey! This surely got my attention at 7am, so I clicked and read the whole thing. Long before the Alabama issue, I took a class at Fuller called the Ethics of Life and Death, where my group and I presented on this very topic, basically, posing the question, regarding the personhood of embryos. We presented both sides of the argument. The purpose was to function as opposing Christian Ethicists to help a relevant audience make their decision about what to do with their frozen embryos. It was an enlightening experience. All this is to say, I’d loved to read your paper, “Autonomy Distinguishes Love from Control”. The title seems to support a thought I have about many things. So many issues that become political are so tricky. It’d be kind of cool to send a paper my friend wrote to my professor for her to assign as optional reading for future classes to add to the enrichment of learning. :) Where can I find it?