Alabama’s Supreme Court says frozen embryos are considered children: IVF and religion in the Deep South
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In a post-Roe world, the South is returning to its legacy of intertwining politics and religion. The most recent ruling that frozen embryos are “extrauterine children” cements that legacy among the 1858 Biblical defense of slavery (given on the floor of the United States Senate) and the 1957 minister’s protest to the desegregation of schools in Little Rock. Southern theocracy has never been hidden, but America is finally talking about it.
In his concurring decision, Chief Justice Tom Parker referenced the Bible and God several times, something he’s never shied away from in his judicial career. In fact, he once wrote, “When judges don’t rule in the fear of the Lord, everything’s falling apart.” Recently, he even appeared on a Christian activist podcast, where he spoke about the Seven Mountains Mandate, a form of Christian supremacy. Parker was appointed for his Christian rulings, and as a result, his writings became instrumental for the overturning of Roe v Wade. For all this, Republicans hold him up as a model American.
So what happened to Jefferson’s “wall of separation between Church and State?”
It doesn’t exist.
One in five Americans believe that there should be no separation and that the Constitution was inspired by God. 15% of Americans say that the government should declare the US a Christian nation. Evidently, that relatively small group is loud—and it seems like a lot of them have ended up in power.
After passing the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, Alabama’s governor Kay Ivey claimed that the bill was a “powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that… every life is a sacred gift from God.” Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson claims that America needs to return to 18th century values, and that without religion, “the republic is not going to stand.”
The archetype of the influential figure rooted in Christian values echoes throughout government. The Republican party platform claims that “individuals, businesses, and institutions of faith” are being forced “to transgress their beliefs.” Simultaneously, it mentions God fifteen times and many of its politicians focus a significant portion of their campaign on being The Good Christian. Nikki Haley, for example, has made it her image, saying America has to “return to God” and repeatedly emphasizing her Christian reasoning in issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The Christian-dominated US landscape forces all politicians to play on these religious identity politics, particularly ones who depart from the “traditional American look.” During his presidency, Obama was forced to reaffirm his Christian faith multiple times in the face of overtly racist conspiracy theories about his religion, despite saying that his religion was a personal matter. As the conservative press began to nurse rumors of Obama practicing Islam, the least-liked religion in America, Obama’s speeches became more Christian in rhetoric. In short, Islamophobic Americans made Obama choose between public acceptance of his ancestry (and his desire for privacy) and his political career.
Pete Buttigieg, the current Secretary of Transport and first openly gay Cabinet member, has made his faith very public. As a devout Christian, he’s difficult for the religious right to attack. To Mike Pence—former vice president and known signatory of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, which gave businesses the right to deny members of the LGBTQ community service—Buttigieg said, “Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” Even Biden, who does adhere to that “American look” has bowed to Christian identity politics. He campaigned in the South on appealing to Christian voters in 2020, and he’s doing it again in 2024.
In American politics, Christianity has become a promise of shared values, despite clear inconsistencies among, and even within, denominations. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle: Republicans thrive off it, and Democrats are forced into it, particularly when race, gender, or sexuality stands in the way of “looking American”.
The Alabama Supreme Court decision that used religious reasoning to decide future policy represents a long history of Christianity’s influence on politics. It’s especially concerning that the Bible was cited as the basis for legal doctrine over medical advice, and now, women who want children are suffering as three of the state’s eight IVF treatment clinics have paused their procedures. The Bible was misused in government in 1858 to defend slavery, and now it’s being misused to take away women’s right to govern their own bodies. Americans have the right not to worship, and that includes the right to secular law.