Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

In Trump’s America, Frozen Embryos Are Children

The Alabama IVF decision couldn’t have happened without the former president’s Supreme Court appointments.

February 23, 2024 at 11:30 AM UTC

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

Meet the man responsible for the Alabama IVF decision.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America

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Welcome to Donald Trump’s America, where frozen embryos are children.

This, according to the Alabama Supreme Court which ruled that a person who destroys a frozen embryo—or “extrauterine children” in the parlance of the court—can be held liable for wrongful death of a child under state law. Three Alabama clinics, including the state’s largest health system, have suspended in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments because of the ruling, upending the lives of an unknown number of Alabama families and potentially thousands across the country should other states follow suit.