(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos are considered children in the state, calling it “outrageous and unacceptable.”
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable,” Biden wrote in the statement.
On Tuesday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children’ … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.” The unprecedented decision could impact the future of in vitro fertilization treatments in the state — and several IVF providers have paused parts of their care to patients for fear of legal risks.
Biden said the court’s decisions is a “direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade” — the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Biden said he will work to restore Roe v. Wade — however, with a divided Congress it could be challenging.
“My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state,” Biden wrote in the statement.
Biden’s campaign directly blamed former President Donald Trump for the Alabama court ruling, saying it was “only possible” because “Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade.” Trump appointed three conservative justices while he was president.
“Across the nation, MAGA Republicans are inserting themselves into the most personal decisions a family can make, from contraception to IVF. With their latest attack on reproductive freedom, these so-called pro-life Republicans are preventing loving couples from growing their families. If Donald Trump is elected, there is no question that he will impose his extreme anti-freedom agenda on the entire country,” Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the court’s decision in a post on X.
“This decision is outrageous — and it is already robbing women of the freedom to decide when and how to build a family,” Harris wrote.
Harris wrote that Biden would sign a bill reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade if Democrats win majorities in Congress, although such legislation would need 60 votes in the Senate.
Harris spoke at a roundtable in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Thursday as part of her nationwide “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” where she mentioned the court’s ruling at the top of her remarks.
“The people of Michigan cannot sit back and take comfort without also understanding that the elections matter, and that there is a full-on concerted effort to pass a national ban, which would mean the people of Michigan would not be as safe,” Harris said.
Abortion is legal in Michigan.
“It should not be the government telling people what to do and what we have seen on this issue is over the course of now, a year and a half, people who are suffering every day in our country as a result of this,” Harris said.
Trump has not yet weighed in on the Alabama court ruling or Biden’s comments. Congressional Republicans have been noticeably quiet on the topic, too.
Nikki Haley, Trump’s opponent in the Republican primary, said Wednesday that she agrees with the court’s ruling, telling NBC News that “embryos, to me, are babies.”
At the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, attendees shared their thoughts about the Alabama Supreme Court ruling with ABC News.
“It’s a step in the right direction to say that these frozen embryos are human beings, and then they need to be treated with that kind of respect,” Bishop Joseph Strickland said.
Colleen Blanca of Washington, D.C., said the ruling aligns with her thoughts on what constitutes life.
“I do believe that life is at the second the nanosecond of inception when that egg hits in there, I believe that’s life,” Blanca said. ” … [The court] said it is life at the beginning of the inception. That’s amazing.”
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
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