Alabama’s IVF ruling shines a spotlight on state supreme court election

Weeks after a state supreme court decision that threatens the future of in vitro fertilization in Alabama, voters on Super Tuesday decided the court’s next slate of justices in a closely watched Republican primary election.

Last month, Alabama’s Supreme Court defined frozen embryos as children, expanding the scope of so-called “personhood” embraced by Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion groups who believe that life begins at conception – and underscoring the far-reaching impacts of Roe v Wade’s collapse.

The ruling drew widespread condemnation and alarm, with fertility clinics across the state fearing swift legal scrutiny and their forced closure while families were left in heartbreaking limbo.

But the candidates running to replace the state’s retiring chief justice appeared unmoved.

Republican Justice Sarah Stewart, who currently sits on the court and concurred with the controversial decision, is the projected winner of the Republican primary. She will now face Democratic candidate Greg Griffin, a Montgomery County circuit judge.

Her Republican primary rival, former state senator Bryan Taylor, also didn’t reject the court’s “personhood” ruling, saying in a statement in response that “we can uphold the sanctity of life without subjecting IVF clinics to lawsuit abuse”.

Alabama’s 72-year-old outgoing Chief Justice Tom Parker – a proponent of Christian nationalist doctrine who cited the Bible in the court’s IVF ruling – is unable to seek another term; the state forbids judges older than 70 to be elected.

Republican lawmakers who have embraced fetal “personhood” scrambled to respond, revealing the GOP’s deeply confused, ambivalent or intentionally obtuse views on reproductive health, just as Republicans flailed in