[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
February 28, 2024
From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.
The Alabama IVF Ruling Weaponizes Faith to Harm Families [[link removed]]
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IVF works by using a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg. (Jens Kalaene / Getty Images)
BY RESHMA SAUJANI and PAUL BRANDEIS RAUSHENBUSH | Reshma is a Hindu woman, Paul is a Christian man. For both of us, faith has taught us to put family at the center of our lives. And both of our families, in part, happened to be made possible by IVF.
That’s why the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, that frozen embryos outside the womb constitute human life, outraged us. We’re seeing faith weaponized to harm families, by a hypocritical right-wing faction that claims to stand for “family values.” And we fear the potential harm has only just begun.
The consequences of the Alabama ruling are already devastating. The state’s largest hospital, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has already suspended their IVF treatments. Countless patients may have to start the painful process over again, or completely rethink their family planning process. Other clinics may soon follow suit—and current, or aspiring, infertility specialists may choose not to practice in the state.
Then there’s the chilling effect that these rulings have across the country—both on clinics who fear legal jeopardy for providing treatment, and the parents and parent-hopefuls who fear similar consequences for seeking it. This could have far-reaching implications for the (already dismal) state of reproductive care in America.
The decision in Alabama is an extension of the disastrous decision taken by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson last year to strike down the right of women to make decisions about their bodies. And just as we predicted, women are suffering because of it—some are even being forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term.
Maddeningly, this is all being done in the name of faith. The Court ruling so clearly reflects a singular religious viewpoint held by the justices, with lines in the ruling stating that “God made every person in His image” and that to destroy a frozen embryo is to invite the “wrath of a holy God.” By imposing its narrow view of morality and religion on all Alabamians, the Court has taken a sledgehammer to the First Amendment, which guarantees every person’s freedom to believe as we choose.
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Alabama’s Fundamentalist Leap: Cells Are Not Human Beings [[link removed]] Making the New Zealand Case for Ranked-Choice Voting in the U.S. [[link removed]]
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Biden Is Forgiving Another $1.2 Billion in Student Loan Debt [[link removed]] Biden’s 2023 Judicial Appointees Mark New Era for Diversity in Courts [[link removed]]
What we're reading
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
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"Fani
Willis
Didn’t
Stand
a
Chance”
—
The
Cut
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Listen to United Bodies—a new podcast about the lived experience of health, from Ms. Studios, on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
Moving your body, in any way you can, can be a liberating experience—to feel your power, your strength, your security and resiliency through a step forward, a dance, a roll or stroll through nature. This week, we explore how two efforts centered around movement are leading to transformative liberation for those involved, starting with Morgan Dixon and GirlTrek and following with AJ Williams, a documentarian working on a film about accessible recreation.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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