In an interview on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” February 22, Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, discussed the implications of a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling recognizing unimplanted human embryos as children.

“We’re seeing it all over, this erosion of reproductive autonomy. Of course we saw it in the reversal of Roe v. Wade with respect to abortion. But now we’re seeing it with families that want to create children being told that their decisions are not theirs to be made,” Northup said.

“It’s patently absurd. But what is really frightening about the decision is it uses the very concept—and I am quoting the decision—‘extra-uterine children,’” Northup said. “If it weren’t so scary in its implications, it almost sounds like a farce.”

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About the Ruling:

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on February 16 that frozen embryos are children for the purposes of the state’s wrongful death of a minor law. The decision leaves medical providers and patients scrambling to assess its impact and jeopardizes the availability of in vitro fertilization (IVF), which accounts for approximately 2% of births in the United States.

Read More:

• IVF: A Critical Method for Building Families