In my so-called pro-life state, our Supreme Court says that embryos have all the rights of human beings, causing fertility clinics (pro-life organizations) to shut down for fear. I love the State of Alabama, but sometimes we play into the national notion that we are a bunch of uneducated, bigoted rednecks, even at the highest level of state government and our court system. Well, that might adequately fit a group of folks making decisions and headlines. We don’t get the concept of unintended consequences, do we? The essence of “in vitro fertilization” is to help create life, but the court’s actions, in this case, caused the opposite to occur.

I’m no expert in science or law, but it seems that rational individuals, and you’d hope that the court had sensible individuals on it, would understand what the ruling meant. Nine Alabama Supreme Court justices attended schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, and University of Virginia Law, and a glance at their bios suggests that most are well qualified. So much so that even the fact that they are all Republicans, therefore compelled to act, vote, and even think a certain way, still would have led them to consider all the ramifications. Of course, I assume they debated the issue versus aligning with some ideological doctrine, but who can be sure?

Well, I don’t have to tell you that there was so much national backlash and news until now; our governor and state legislature hurriedly passed a law protecting doctors and clinics where in vitro fertilization occurs.

Now, allow me the redundancy of pointing out that Alabama is a red state, and Republicans run the legislature, sit in the governor’s seat, and control the Supreme Court.

If this isn’t enough, the Alabama Republican Party also aims to implement diversity training, pronoun usage, and other inclusion policies at state colleges and other public institutions. They refer to this as a fight against wokeism.

Don’t we have other, more progressive things to work on? Fixing a broken educational system, creating economic development in urban and rural communities, repairing our bridges and highways, fostering cooperation and collaboration within our state borders, and improving our image, which we are proficient at tarnishing.

I’m disappointed that in 2024, in a state in the USA, government officials would aim for programs intended to help protect, respect, and uplift community members and allow parents who want children to have them. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and In Vitro Fertilization are practices and idyllic concepts we all should embrace. So, who’s making the state of Alabama look bad? I’ll let you figure that out.