Less than a week after the Alabama Supreme Court granted unprecedented and medically unnecessary protections to frozen embryos, some IVF clinics in the state are forced to move into this dangerous new environment. had already suspended its services for fear of providing medical care for which it was trained. It is outrageous to cause such disruption to the health care of people who are trying to start families. The disruption to health care workers is equally worrying.
It is undeniable that decisions like the one made by the Alabama Supreme Court have a negative impact on medical practice. Physicians are trained to provide evidence-based care and care for patients in their most vulnerable moments. They are not trained to understand the nuances of criminal law, and anyone who wants to risk a felony that could rob them of their ability to provide for their families and future patients, and potentially land them in prison. There aren't many.
The Alabama ruling bodes badly for health care in Alabama, which is already struggling to maintain its physician workforce. Alabama also has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the nation, with outcomes for black infants and mothers even worse. More than 34% of the county's mothers lack access to adequate obstetric care, making it an “obstetric desert.” Further restricting or intimidating physicians who provide reproductive and primary care and who themselves have reproductive health needs is counterproductive to improving health outcomes.
Why would people who claim to value life at every step want to put so many people at risk? What will happen to the health and lives of those who need assisted reproductive technology to grow their families? Or are they people who need contraception or abortion to build healthy families?? It seems that protecting lives is not actually the real purpose. Relegating people who can become pregnant to mere vessels is not about saving lives. It is a means of coercion and control.
Sadly, the tactics used in this case are all too familiar. These are an extension of tactics that impose medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. This ruling shows that anti-science politicians had no intention of stopping at abortion. This new type of interference in reproductive health clearly reveals the intent of abortion opponents to continue to restrict bodily autonomy, regardless of the circumstances. Too many politicians want to interfere in the most private decisions families make about whether to have children or not. Banning contraception is the next logical step and is even being openly debated in some state legislatures.
Anti-science politicians and judges, most of whom have no medical training, pose a serious threat to the health care system because they have a clear ideological objective to control and coerce women. There is. And this is completely unacceptable in a multifaceted, pluralistic and democratic society, where many viewpoints and religious beliefs must (and have the right) to coexist.
Fortunately, the Alabama Supreme Court's decision does not directly impact North Carolina. However, this judgment is very worrying for all of us. Not only will it have a devastating impact on people trying to grow their families using assisted reproductive technology in Alabama, but it will also raise questions as lawmakers and judges in other states pass similar bills. This is because it may encourage others to do so. Similar ruling. Our state legislature has already shown that it does not listen to doctors when it comes to intervening in personal health decisions. Last year, the General Assembly pushed through a highly unpopular abortion ban that was clearly opposed by a majority of the state's doctors.
North Carolinians should take note. The fantasy world of full fetal personhood embodied in this ruling does not bode well for real patients and health care systems. Patients and doctors should be allowed to make fertility decisions based on their personal values and beliefs, not those imposed by the state. A nation that sanctions such highly unpopular intrusions into people's lives based on the religious views of a segment of its population will end up lacking the health care workers it needs to keep its population thriving.
