Alabama's IVF ruling is spotlighting the anti-abortion movement’s long game
apnews.com
Ruling highlights how support for the idea that a fetus should have the same rights as a person underpins far less dramatic laws and proposals from abortion foes.

The recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected children is highlighting how support for the idea that a fetus should have the same rights as a person underpins far less dramatic laws and proposals from abortion foes across the U.S.

Lawmakers in at least six states have proposed measures similar to a Georgia law that allows women to seek child support back to conception to cover expenses from a pregnancy. Georgia also allows prospective parents to claim its income tax deduction for dependent children before birth, Utah enacted a pregnancy tax break last year, and variations of those measures are before lawmakers in at least four other states.

Including legislation that makes harming or killing a fetus a crime, several dozen proposals falling under the broad umbrella of promoting fetal personhood are pending in at least 15 states, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    I’m all for giving pregnant women (and their unborn children) some special status. It’s simply a recognition of how human life works, and how fragile it all is. But no pregnancy is a guarantee, and the folks who are trying to extend full rights to the unborn based on their religious beliefs are going to cause a lot of unintended problems. This IVF thing will not be the last thing they fuck up.

    I’m not a big fan of the idea of abortion, but I recognize that it absolutely needs to be legal, because when it isn’t that just gives the government a justification to get all in your business. Making it illegal with exceptions specifically will not work, because we will never agree on how those exceptions are interpreted. All we can do is let women and their doctors make their own decisions. Religious people will just have to live with the fact that we might let people who don’t share their beliefs make decisions they don’t agree wih.