Hillary Clinton warns birth control is 'next' after Alabama IVF ruling
Hillary Clinton is warning about the legality of birth control in the wake of a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that found frozen embryos created through fertility treatments are children under state law.
“They came for abortion first. Now it’s [in vitro fertilization], and next it’ll be birth control,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of State said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“The extreme right won’t stop trying to exert government control over our most sacred personal decisions until we codify reproductive freedom as a human right,” Clinton added.
Following the decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) health system decided to pause in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. The UAB health system has said it is evaluating the decision but would immediately pause the procedures.
“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF, but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” a health system spokesperson said.
The Yellowhammer State’s top court issued the ruling Friday, finding that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
“Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in a concurring opinion. “We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra decried the court’s decision in a post on X, saying it will have “heart-wrenching consequences for women & their families.”
“I’ve long made clear that overturning Roe was just the beginning of the attacks on women’s health, privacy, & autonomy — and that’s exactly what we continue to see,” Becerra said.
Following the decision, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she agreed that an embryo is an unborn baby but added in an interview that "we need to treat these issues with the utmost respect."