The people who spent the past several decades working toward overturning Roe v. Wade believe that the embryos created in fertility labs are human beings. Which means that people who have undergone fertility treatments and have embryos stored, or people who might in the future need fertility treatments, are wondering just how worried they should be.
Enter The New York Times. A look at this issue notes that many state laws restricting abortion are specific about human anatomy on this point. In Utah, a trigger law currently on hold has language about “human pregnancy after implantation of a fertilized ovum,” while model legislation from the National Right to Life Committee refers to “all stages of the unborn child’s development within a pregnant woman’s uterus from fertilization until birth.”
But, as we know, the far-right tends to move the goalposts, so people concerned about in vitro fertilization (IVF) have good reason to worry. Already, Republican legislators in 10 states have tried to extend legal personhood to frozen embryos. That they haven’t succeeded doesn’t mean they won’t keep trying.
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Additionally, anti-abortion groups are conspicuously not making any promises on this.
“In interviews,” according to the Times, “leading anti-abortion groups said that embryos created through assisted reproductive technology were not currently a priority.”
Not currently a priority.
Elsewhere, we learn that “representatives from four nationwide groups that oppose abortion said in interviews that they firmly believe all embryos to be human beings, but that regulating IVF embryos within abortion bans was not their first order of business.”
Not their first order of business. Again, a clear signal that this could move up the priority list at any time.
A spokeswoman at Students for Life Action indicated that her group might be getting ready to focus on IVF, saying, “Protecting life from the very beginning is our ultimate goal, and in this new legal environment we are researching issues like IVF, especially considering a business model that, by design, ends most of the lives conceived in a lab.”
“In this new legal environment” … where they’ve gotten the big win and can think about the next order of business. So, yeah. That’s an unambiguous warning sign for IVF patients and providers.
The far-right might come for contraception first. It might come for marriage equality first. But if you think these groups are going to stop coming for our rights as long as they have a Supreme Court packed by Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell—well, for years we were told they weren’t really coming for Roe, to stop exaggerating the danger. It’s time to realize there is basically no exaggeration possible with these extremists.
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