By Carol Tobias, President, National Right to Life
The Alabama Supreme Court has thrown a highly controversial decision into the middle of what is likely to be the most consequential election of our time.
Ruling on a case about human embryos accidentally destroyed in a lab, the court declared that human lives created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are children “without exception… based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.”
Basing its decision on an 1872 statute that addressed the wrongful death of minors, the court ruled that couples whose children were destroyed in the lab accident could sue for the death of their unborn children. The court determined that the law “includes unborn children who are not located in utero at the time they are killed.”
That decision sent the abortion industry and its allies in the media and the Democrat party into a tailspin. Assertions were thrown around declaring that IVF would now become illegal, or that this was a natural result of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade.
The Associated Press wrote, “White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, said the Alabama decision reflected the consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade and blamed Republican elected officials from [sic] blocking access to reproductive and emergency care to women.” Jean-Pierre called on Congress to “restore the protections of Roe v Wade in federal law for all women in every state.”
Writing about the Alabama court decision, an article in VOX claims that “even birth control is under threat.” In a story titled, “The anti-abortion playbook for restricting birth control,” the author acknowledges that “there’s no proposed legislation on the table to ban it,” but then goes on to say that “contraception… could one day disappear.”
The right-to-life movement has been very clear for many years—destroying embryos in the IVF process is wrong. We encourage embryo adoption, also known as snowflake adoption–allowing other couples to adopt frozen embryos. We support ethical regulation of an unregulated industry for the benefit of the parents and the child. And we will continue to educate about the value of each and every human life.
But a sober evaluation of reality makes very clear we are staring at a very steep cliff. Our country is debating life and death for children in the womb, with many states and candidates in the Democrat party wanting the right to kill preborn children up to the moment of birth. Many candidates are willing to legalize late abortions which result in the painful dismemberment of an unborn child.
Our focus must remain on exposing that extreme, radical position which is rejected by the public at large.
We can expect that any and every story that touches on abortion, if unfavorable to the pro-life movement, will be highly publicized by the Biden White House as its re-election campaign flounders. Despite voter concerns about inflation and rising prices, immigration, and wars in Ukraine and Israel, the only issue Democrats will talk about is abortion.
The Biden administration posted a meme on social media with pictures of members of Congress who had co-sponsored a bill declaring that life begins at conception. The intent is to paint the candidates as being opposed to IVF which, in some polls, has public approval around 85%. State and local Democrat parties picked up the message and used it to focus on U.S. Representatives in their local area.
One of Biden’s guests for the 2024 State of the Union address is a woman from Texas who was not able to obtain an abortion in Texas as state law allows abortion only in situations where the mother’s life is in jeopardy or if she would face a serious injury because of her pregnancy. Her situation will be thoroughly exploited by Biden.
I fully expect this kind of onslaught throughout the year. Joe Biden is in trouble in the polls; if he goes down to defeat, he may very well take down many Democrat candidates with him. Democrats are going to do whatever they can to keep abortion in the public eye, believing that will save them from utter defeat in November.
It is up to us to make sure their pending defeat becomes reality.