Image licensed from Shutterstock
As we start Women’s History Month, let us remember Baby Louise Brown, who was born 45 years ago. She was the first baby to be born after conception by in vitro fertilization, a procedure lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th Century,” for which its inventors received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2010.
On her 40th birthday, Louise Brown wrote:
“When I was born, Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, the two men who came up with the technique, suggested my middle name be Joy. They said my birth would bring joy to so many people.
“Forty years, and millions of babies later, many will agree they were right.
“IVF in its many forms brings hope for people in despair that they will never have a child. So many things have changed in the decades that have gone by, but the desire for couples to have babies has not.
“My mum, Lesley Brown, went to the doctor suffering from depression. At the heart of it was her inability to have a child with my dad, John.
“When they heard about this experiment it gave them hope. Even though it had never worked before it was something to cling on to – and happily led to me being born.”
That sums it up. Relief for women from the despair, the depression, the stigma of infertility. About 2% of all births in the US are the result of IVF, about 8 million worldwide. But through the inexorable logic put into play by the reversal of Roe vs Wade and the rise of white male Christian nationalism, there will be no more Louise Browns - not in Alabama, at least. And maybe not in any states if the right wing radicals in control of the GOP have their way.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that the frozen embryos created by IVF are “extrauterine children” in a “cryogenic nursery,” and that their destruction is the equivalent of child murder. The University of Alabama at Birmingham's Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility immediately canceled all IVF treatment out of fear that" our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages."
The rationale for the ruling? God’s will. Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote: “even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.” And much more along the same lines. As Ruth Marcus wrote in the Washington Post, “welcome to the theocracy.”
Shocking as this decision is, it is no aberration. It is part of a long-running plan on the far right to defy the constitution and establish Christianity as the State religion. It would turn women into child factories financially dependent on their husbands. Read Amanda Marcotte’s passionate piece on this. A taste of what she says:
"It's important to understand that what the Christian right really wants is not motherhood, per se, but a social order where women are second class citizens. They take a dim view of not just abortion and contraception, but all reproductive technologies that make it easier for women to exercise autonomy over their lives. There's a widespread perception that IVF is primarily used by lesbians, single women, and women who waited until their 30s to get married. (In reality, there are many reasons, including male infertility.) Conservatives view IVF as a cheat code for feminists who want to have children on their own terms. They would prefer a system where the only path to motherhood is being trapped with a Trump-voting husband who controls your checking account so you can't leave."
Johnson and other GOP notables including Donald Trump, have been tying themselves in knots to get themselves away from the logical impasse of not effacing God’s glory - except in the case of IVF. Senator Tammy Duckworth attempted to pass a bill in the Senate via unanimous consent that would establish federal IVF protections, but it was blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.). Trump says he supports IVF, but his spokesperson declines to answer questions about whether he would support such legislation. Mike Johnson’s position is - surprise, surprise - exactly the same.
Johnson, let’s remember, was one of 125 House Republicans who backed a 'life at conception' bill, without any IVF exception, introduced in 2023. He also has a long record of opposing contraception.
Since our Congressman is so cozy with Johnson, we need to do the impossible - pin the slimy wretch down. Contact his office. Does Kean share the view that destroying embryos is effacing God’s glory? Will he call for and back Federal protections for IVF? Does he support the Federal ban on abortions after 16 weeks, contemplated by Trump? Watch the meaningless word salad spill out.
We are on the path to The Handmaid’s Tale - an American theocracy with a Christian version of Sharia law enforced by a bunch of Trump-appointed black robed Mullahs on the Supreme Court.
Welcome to Women’s History Month.
Lauren Elisabeth / Shutterstock.com
Comments