Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling

A new ruling out of Alabama may spell the beginning of the end of the third-party fertility industry—and its reasoning partially relies on a verse from the Bible.

On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court decided that embryos created through in-vitro fertilization would be protected under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, effectively classifying single-celled, fertilized eggs as children. 

The case, known as LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc, rested upon an argument by several intended parents that their “embryonic children” had been victims of a wrongful death when an intruder broke into the IVF clinic, dropping trays containing some of the embryos and ultimately destroying them.

In a 7–2 decision, Alabama’s highest court ruled that the clinic had been negligent, allowing the parents to proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit. The court also ruled that it is “the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life,” referring to the Alabama Constitution’s Sanctity of Life Amendment, ratified in 2018.

“Here, the text of the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act is sweeping and unqualified,” wrote Alabama Supreme Court Associate Justice Jay Mitchell in the majority’s opinion. “It applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation. It is not the role of this Court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the People of this State have adopted a Constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding ‘unborn life’ from legal protection.”

But the opinion also quotes the Bible as reasoning for functionally killing IVF access within the aggressively pro-life state, turning to an eyebrow-raising verse from Jeremiah 1:5 for guidance before deciding to make it harder for Alabamans to have a family.

“We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness. It is as if the People of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, Before you were born I sanctified you.’ Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV 1982),” the opinion read.

It’s a devastating hit to the third-party fertility industry, which is comprised of large networks of agencies, clinics, and egg banks around the nation.

“Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling is a terrifying development for the 1 in 6 people impacted by infertility who need in-vitro fertilization to build their families,” said Barb Collura, president and CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association. “This anti-family ruling will likely have devastating consequences, including impacting the standard of care provided by the state’s five fertility clinics. This new legal framework may make it impossible to offer services like IVF, a standard medical treatment for infertility. It also remains unclear what this decision means for families who currently have embryos stored at these clinics.”

This article has been updated.

Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers on Monday signed new legislative maps into law, which could help Democrats retake the state legislature in the fall.

The new maps, which go into effect immediately, will replace ones that were widely recognized as some of the most gerrymandered in the country. Despite Democrats winning 14 of the last 17 statewide elections, Republicans have carried the majority of the districts—and thus controlled the state legislature—for the past decade.

“This is an important day and historic day for our state and for every person who calls Wisconsin home,” Evers said before signing the maps into law. “This will be the first time in over 50 years that Wisconsin will have fair legislative maps enacted through the legislative process rather than through the courts.”

“When I promised I wanted fair maps, not maps that are better for one party or the other, including my own, I damn well meant it,” he said. “Wisconsin is not a red state. It is not a blue state. Wisconsin is a purple state, and I believe our maps should reflect that basic fact.”

“The people should get to choose their elected officials, not the other way around.”

State Democrats have tried to challenge the legislative maps for more than a decade, but they hadn’t been successful until Wisconsinites overwhelmingly elected state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz last year. The day after Protasiewicz was sworn in, in August, lawmakers filed a lawsuit against the maps.

The high court ruled in December that the legislative maps were unconstitutional, with Protasiewicz providing the tie-breaking fourth vote. The justices ordered the state legislature to adopt new maps and warned they would draw up new lines if the lawmakers could not pass maps that Evers would sign.

Evers, lawmakers from both parties, and three independent groups submitted map options to the court for review. Independent consultants hired by the court found that the maps submitted by legislature Republicans and a conservative law firm were “partisan gerrymanders,” leaving only Democratic-drawn maps left to choose from.

The legislature passed Evers’s maps last week, to avoid having the high court draw the new district lines.

Under the new maps, Democrats are widely expected to gain seats in both the state Assembly and state Senate. They could even take control of the legislature, which Democrats have not done since 2010, giving them a trifecta with Evers in office until the end of 2026.

If Donald Trump needs to raise money to pay off his legal dues, he needs to step up his game. And no, that doesn’t mean selling $399 sneakers.

The former president launched a line of self-branded sneakers at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The gold “Never Surrender High-Top Sneaker” retails for $399, and features an American flag on the back and a “T” on the side.

Fashionados can also buy a gold-and-white low-top sneaker for $199, or a red pair also for $199. Trump also launched branded fragrance, the “Victory 47” cologne and perfume, for $99, presumably so his fans don’t get too smelly when working out in their new running shoes.

Although Trump was booed off the stage at Sneaker Con, that reaction belied the true popularity of the shoes. All 1,000 pairs of the high-tops sold out within hours of Trump unveiling them.

Unfortunately for Trump, that amounts to just $399,000—barely a drop in the bucket of his hundreds of millions of dollars in legal dues.

Trump was hit Friday with a $354 million ruling for committing real estate-related financial fraud in New York state. In order to pay that off, he would need to sell 1,127,820 pairs of the high-top sneakers. That’s a lot of kicks.

The former president can appeal the ruling, but he would first have to pay the entire amount plus interest, which could add as much as an additional $100 million.

And that’s not to mention the fact that Trump also owes writer E. Jean Carroll $88.3 million for sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s and then defaming her twice when denying it. That’s an additional 471,929 sneakers that Trump would have to sell. And this still excludes all the fines Trump racked up during the trials for attacking courtroom staff, and the $400,000 he owes The New York Times.

One of Trump’s supporters launched a GoFundMe over the weekend, but that has so far raised just $452,000—again, not nearly enough to put a dent in the total amount he now owes.

A fundraiser mounted over the weekend by Donald Trump’s beguiled supporters isn’t likely to make a dent in his whopping legal dues.

On Friday, the former president was hit with a $354 million financial ruling for committing real estate–related bank fraud in New York State—and that’s before interest, which could tack on as much as another $100 million.

In just two days, a GoFundMe organized by Elena Cardone, the wife of wealthy private equity fund manager Grant Cardone, raised more than $452,000. In its description, Cardone argues that the crowdsourced effort is “not merely about raising the ‘ruling’ amount. It’s about making a stand.”

But her reasoning in raising $355 million on behalf of the GOP front-runner is as interesting as it is alarming. Despite what Justice Arthur Engoron ruled as frauds that “shock the conscience,” Cardone frames Trump as a beleaguered businessman whom she claimed “never defaulted” and “caused no financial damage to anyone,” making Trump’s fight against the judicial system every American’s fight.

“This is more than a legal fund; it’s a call to all businesses owners and entrepreneurs to rally in defense of all businesses and for [a] man who has never hesitated to stand in defense of us,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Trump has been scrambling with his own strategies to raise capital. On Saturday, Trump stopped by a sneaker convention in Philadelphia to announce his own line of kicks, smartly called “Trump Sneakers.”

One pair, titled the “Never Surrender High-Top Sneaker,” retailed on his site for $399. By the end of the night, what existed of the 1,000-unit inventory had sold out. Though at that rate, Trump would need to sell a few more—just 1,127,820 pairs—in order to pay off the remaining $450 million.

Trump has less than 30 days left to come up with the money or secure a bond if he wants to appeal Engoron’s ruling.

Television host John Oliver has offered Clarence Thomas a busload of reasons to resign immediately, amid mounting reports that the Supreme Court justice secretly accepted lavish gifts from Republican billionaires for decades.

Thomas has refused to recuse himself from cases despite widespread concerns that his opinions can be swayed by the gifts. So Oliver offered a solution Sunday night at the end of his comedy-news show Last Week Tonight: He would personally pay Thomas $1 million a year and give him a new $2.4 million luxury R.V.—if he resigns within 30 days.

Oliver quipped that Thomas was overworked, from “stripping away women’s rights to hearing January 6 cases you definitely shouldn’t be hearing, to potentially helping roll back decades of federal regulations.”

“You deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington so you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades,” Oliver said.

“I think you’re thinking, what would my friends say if I take this offer? Will they judge me as they sit in their boardrooms and megayachts and Hitler shrines? Will they still treat me to luxury vacations and sing songs about me off their phones? Well, that’s the beauty of friendship, Clarence. If they’re real friends, they’ll love you no matter what your job is. So I guess this might be the perfect way to find out who your real friends actually are.”

A series of ProPublica reports last year revealed that Thomas has accepted millions of dollars in gifts from Republican billionaire megadonors—and reported none of it on his financial disclosure forms. Thomas reportedly began accepting this steady stream of gifts just a few months after he publicly complained that Supreme Court justice salaries are too low.

One of those generous souls is billionaire Harlan Crow, who has been friends with Thomas for more than two decades. In that time, Crow—a Nazi memorabilia collector—has repeatedly lavished Thomas with expensive gifts. These include island-hopping yacht vacations, private school tuition for Thomas’s nephew, and buying and renovating a Thomas family property, where Thomas’s mother still lives.

Crow also regularly brought Thomas as his guest to the Bohemian Grove, which ProPublica has previously described as a “secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California” that attracts major corporate and political players.

By 2003, Thomas’s wife, Ginni, had begun working at the Heritage Foundation and was making a salary in the low six figures. The Heritage Foundation is part of the Koch brothers’ network. By at least 2010, Clarence Thomas began secretly participating in Koch donor network events, which put him in touch with wealthy and influential conservatives.