Trump Backs IVF Treatment After Alabama Supreme Court Ruling

Facts

• Former US Pres. Donald Trump has 'strongly' backed in vitro fertilization (IVF) and called on the Alabama Legislature to ensure the treatment remains available to couples in the wake of the state's Supreme Court ruling frozen embryos can be considered children.¹
• After several Trump-endorsed GOP Senate candidates defended the practice, Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to say that the Republican Party will always be on the side of pro-life American families trying to have a baby.²
• Meanwhile, his lone remaining challenger for the Republican nomination — Nikki Haley — at first appeared to side with the Alabama ruling as she expressed her belief that frozen embryos are babies, but later claimed that she didn't support the decision.³
• This comes as the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court found that a 19th-century state law allowing parents to sue over death of a minor child applies to all unborn children, prompting some IVF providers to pause treatments due to legal risks.⁴
• The ruling was issued earlier this month in wrongful death cases brought by three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed after an unauthorized patient in 2020 removed several embryos stored at the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center and dropped them on the floor.⁵
• Non-profit Eagle Forum of Alabama has urged IVF clinics to resume operations as the office of Attorney General Steve Marshall stated on Friday that he has no plans to use the recent decision as a basis to prosecute families or providers.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Daily Wire, ³BBC News, ⁴New York Post, ⁵Associated Press and ⁶1819 News.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by CNN. Trump and several other Republicans who praised the overturn of Roe v. Wade have now realized what Democrats warned long ago: that doing away with this precedent would have far larger implications beyond abortion. As each state can now decide when life begins, Americans face huge legal uncertainty. This ruling is just the latest example of why gone protections must be restored into federal law.
• Republican narrative, as provided by National Review. Despite some criticism and skepticism, most pro-life supporters don't actually oppose IVF — let alone aim to create another legal and political front against this technology — as they prefer to focus on its positive aspects, such as its ability to help create families and bring great joy into the world. That's why it's important to stress that this ruling, which recognizes the injury some couples endured, doesn't make all embryos babies.
• Conservative narrative, as provided by American Spectator. Whether it's Trump or any other conservative voicing support for in vitro fertilization, nothing changes the fact that Alabama's Supreme Court was right in ruling that frozen embryos are indeed children. It's time to realize what the billionaire IVF industry has long successfully concealed: this process is as evil as abortion because millions of innocents are killed to bring just a few to life.