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Alabama justice invoked ‘the wrath of a holy God’ in IVF opinion. Is that allowed?
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An Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling has torn open a long-simmering and emotionally charged debate about whether some aspects of in vitro fertilization represent a form of abortion and should be banned under religious principles.
Christian opposition to abortion has long driven the debate over reproductive rights. Abortion opponents say life begins at conception, and even a handfull of cells deserves the same legal protections as a person.
In his concurring opinion last week, Chief Justice Tom Parker, an elected Republican, invoked similar reasoning.
“In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama encompasses the following: (1) God made every person in His image; (2) each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and (3) human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.”
But legal scholars say invocating religion is an unusual step for a judge. And IVF advocates are concerned about injecting religion into what they see as a medical decision to have a family.
“The substance of the ruling is not a surprise at all. But the language he used, it’s completely out of bounds ‒ unusual to an extreme degree,” said Jennifer Hendricks, a law professor and family law expert at the University of Colorado Boulder.
IVF has faced religious opposition from some Christians
It all comes down to a small cluster cells.
On one side of the battle are millions of Americans who used in-vitro fertilization to have desperately wanted children who could otherwise not have been born.
On the other are Christian religious conservatives who argue humans should not be playing God in a laboratory, and that life begins at conception. The Catholic Church in particular opposes IVF, though some religions, including Buddhism and Hinduism, have no hesitations about the procedure.
On Wednesday, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system, the state’s largest, paused IVF treatments so it could evaluate whether its patients or doctors could be punished for undertaking or undergoing the fertility treatment. And the Associated Press reported that a second IVF provider paused part of its program Thursday.
https://cm.usatoday.com/article-body/inline-desktop_021324_PresDay24
Although the ruling itself affects only embryos in Alabama, word of the decision has spread quickly across the nation and already is reverberating in Washington. Opinions are highly polarized.
Vice President Kamala Harris slammed the court’s decision, calling it “outrageous” and saying it sets a dangerous precedent for “robbing women of the freedom to decide when and how to build a family.”
But Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she agrees with the court’s contention that frozen embryos created through IVF are children. “Embryos, to me, are babies,” Haley told NBC News. “That’s a life.”
Ruling again pits theology against reproductive rights
Some conservative states have passed laws specifying that life begins at conception, and the Alabama court leaned heavily on Christian faith and the Bible to make its case. The court referred to the embryos as “embryonic children … kept alive in a cryogenic nursery.”
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said citing the Bible in this manner is like “giving the middle finger to a foundational promise of our country.”
Alabama’s top court ruling on IVF is part of a larger movement to “impose religious theology,” Laser said, in conflict with the constitutional promise of separating church and state. She saw the verdict in Alabama as part of a larger Christian nationalist movement – the idea that America was created by and for Christians an its laws should reflect that.
“The agenda doesn’t stop with reproductive rights. It’s much, much bigger,” Laser said. “And that should concern every American, because America wouldn’t be America without the separation of church and state.”
Laser noted that moral arguments put forth by lawmakers and judges often impose a singular definition of morality on everyone, including people of other faiths and Christians who don’t align with the same set of values or believe they should be imposed by law.
Along with jeopardizing access to IVF and abortions, Laser said the ruling could affect access to contraception, as some forms work by blocking embryos from implanting in the uterus.
“That’s what could come next,” she said.
IVF was a polarizing issue from the start
In 1979, a year after the world’s first IVF baby was born, a coalition of anti-abortion groups denounced the new technology as “morally abhorrent” and persuaded the federal government to block funding for any research in which embryos were destroyed. But the number of what were then referred to as “test tube” babies continued to rise as desperate families turned to IVF to conceive children. Today, about 2% of all babies born in the U.S. annually are conceived through IVF.
“Over the years, the anti-abortion movement gradually accepted some reproductive technologies, as long as no embryos were destroyed during their use,” said Margaret Marsh, a historian and professor at Rutgers University. “But the peace it made with the new technologies was always an uneasy peace.”
Marsh co-wrote a 2019 history of IVF with her sister, a gynecologist.
Because IVF was developed after Roe became the law of the land in 1973, embryos have typically been treated as private property that donors could implant, give away or have destroyed without consequence. But newly passed “personhood” laws pushed by conservatives and some religious groups are changing that.
Nationally, about 100,000 births a year involve IVF, an emotionally and physically exhausting process by which multiple eggs are harvested, fertilized and implanted to bring about a pregnancy. In most cases, doctors create more embryos than are implanted, allowing patients to store those embryos in liquid nitrogen at -321 degrees for future use, donation or destruction.
In the IVF procedure, a three- to five-day-old fertilized egg, known as a blastocyst, is implanted in a woman’s uterus. At this point it contains between 70 and 200 cells.
Those tiny clusters of cells can only develop inside a womb, and officials estimate there may be as many as 1 million frozen embryos stored nationwide.
IVF families have often struggled for years to get pregnant, and undergoing expensive IVF treatment typically requires the administration of powerful fertility drugs and invasive medical procedures for the chance to have a baby. People turn to IVF for many reasons, including fertility loss after cancer treatments, or military members heading out on long-term deployments who want to delay having children.
Is it OK for a judget to invoke the Bible?
In a commentary attached to the Alabama ruling, Parker leaned heavily on the religious foundation of American laws, connecting them to longstanding Christian tenets such as the 10 Commandments’ prohibition against murder. Parker noted that other countries have adopted IVF policies that reduce the number of unneeded embryos and suggested that IVF regulations in the United States are little better than “the Wild West.”
“The Alabama Constitution’s recognition that human life is an endowment from God emphasizes a foundational principle of English common law, which has been expressly incorporated as part of the law of Alabama,” Parker wrote.
“All three branches of government are subject to a constitutional mandate to treat each unborn human life with reverence,” he continued. “Carving out an exception for the people in this case, small as they were, would be unacceptable to the People of this State, who have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in His image.”
The Catholic Church in 1987 issued an opinion setting out its opposition to IVF, arguing in part that it was immoral because it “does violence to human dignity and to the marriage act,” by replacing the act of conception between a married couple with a procedure by a laboratory worker.
“Human beings bear the image and likeness of God. They are to be reverenced as sacred. Never are they to be used as a means to an end, not even to satisfy the deepest wishes of an infertile couple,” the church said. “The marital act is not a manufacturing process, and children are not products.”
Lael Weinberger, a nonresident fellow at Stanford Law School and attorney who previously clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by former President Donald Trump said the court’s decision did not invoke religion and Parker was simply musing about the history and theology of law in his concurring opinion.
“It can’t be the case that the First Amendment prohibits our courts from grappling with the history of law,” Weinberger said.
Weinberger said the new ruling gives the couples who originally sued another chance to file a wrongful death suit. A lower court had dismissed their claims on the basis that embryos were not considered children.
But Nicole Huberfeld, a law professor at Boston University School of Law, said Parker’s opinion stands out because it references Christian beliefs so significantly.
“The thing is that’s unusual is how overtly this concurrence is relying on Christian sanctity of life reasoning,” she said.
The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause typically limits the role religion can play in government, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 changed the longstanding process by which it reviewed conflicts between government and religion. The decision to change that process was written by Justice Gorsuch, who said the court needed to rely more heavily on “reference to historical practices and understandings.” Parker, the Alabama judge, specifically referenced Gorsuch in his concurrent opinion.
Past Supreme Courts might have objected to Parker’s reliance on religion, but Huberfeld said she’s not sure whether the current conservative majority ‒ which overturned the right to abortion two years ago ‒ would find it problematic.
“Judges are not supposed to rely on religious principles for legal reasoning,” Huberfeld said. “The Alabama Constitution does use the word ‘God.’ But so does the Declaration of Independence.”
Religion has always affected the way people interpret the law and played a role in the life of Americans, said Hendricks of UC Boulder. But legal standards have typically kept one specific religion, such as Christianity, from imposing its values on everyone.“The concern a lot of people have is that we’re on a path to theocracy here.”
Lindsay Heller, an IVF mom and attorney, said she thanks “whoever is up there” every day for her two kids. But she believes IVF decisions should be between families and doctors ‒ not courts and religion.
“IVF might fall by the wayside if you’re going by someone’s religious values about how life is created,” she said. “A doctor isn’t going to put their license on the line to help someone get pregnant.”
The 4B Movement in Korea is Causing the Birthrate to Drop – Will Other Countries Follow?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/the-4b-movement-in-korea-is-causing-the-birthrate-to-drop-will-other-countries-follow/ar-BB1iEHs2?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ENTPSP&cvid=97fe36a1316e42f187b8396b322c0797&ei=41
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On June 9, about 22,000 South Korean women marched through the streets of Seoul. The protest – reportedly the largest by women in South Korean history – focused on the proliferation of so-called “spy cams,” tiny cameras used to invade women’s privacy, filming them in toilets and up their skirts, with images often posted online. Activists say the government is not taking the issues seriously – except in the rare case where a man is the victim.
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To combat this and other behavior South Korean women are taking a definitive and some say radical stand known as the 4B movement which is gaining momentum around the world.
The 4B movement also known as the “birth strike” and “marriage strike” meant to combat South Korea’s extreme patriarchal and misogynistic culture.
This wave is growing in popularity over the last several years – resulting in a serious outcome for population growth. Will this be a growing trend across the world?
South Korean women© Gemini by Google
South Korea currently has the world’s lowest fertility rate, with women having less than one child on average.
The drop in South Korea’s fertility rate over the past few years results from the “4B Movement,” with the B’s representing the Korean words bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu for marriage, childbirth, dating, and sex respectively. 
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The 4B Movement: South Korean Women Rejecting Traditional Expectations
In 2019, the 4B Movement emerged in South Korea, it’s been getting a lot of notice on TikTok, gaining more traction and sparking debate.
This movement’s central tenets challenge deeply ingrained societal norms, advocating that women should reject the following:
- Bihon: Heterosexual marriage
- Bichulsan: Childbirth
- Biyeonae: Dating men
- Bisekseu: Heterosexual relationships
Unraveling the Roots of the 4B Movement
The 4B Movement stems from a complex mix of social, economic, and cultural factors that have created a climate of deep-seated discontent and also rage among many young South Korean women, including:
- Persistent Patriarchy & Misogyny: Despite South Korea’s position as a developed, modernized nation, patriarchal structures are deeply embedded in its society. Women often face discrimination in the workplace, are pressured to conform to unrealistic beauty standards (Korea is the #1 country for plastic surgery procedures), and carry a disproportionate burden of domestic labor and childcare.
- Economic Hardships and Disillusionment: South Korea’s hyper-competitive economy and the skyrocketing cost of living have made it increasingly difficult to form families and raise children. Many young women feel disillusioned with the lack of opportunities and the expectation that their primary role should be as wives and mothers.
- The #MeToo Reckoning: The global #MeToo movement had a significant impact on South Korea, exposing widespread sexual harassment and violent assault with little reprehension or justice by authorities. This ignited a broader critique of gender inequality and inspired women to demand greater autonomy and bodily agency.
- Online Feminist Communities: Social media has empowered feminist movements in South Korea. These platforms raise awareness, help share personal experiences, and organize around common causes. The 4B movement has found fertile ground in these spaces with people around the globe.
The Evolution of South Korean Feminism
The 4B movement can be understood as part of a broader trajectory within South Korean feminism.
Previous feminist movements, like the Escape the Corset movement, focused primarily on challenging unrealistic beauty standards and the objectification of women.
The 4B movement expands on this, taking a more radical stance against the entire institution of heterosexual marriage and the traditional family structure within South Korean society.
Criticisms and Concerns
The 4B movement is not without its critics of course, with detractors arguing that it:
- Is Too Extreme: Some argue that the movement’s total rejection of heterosexual relationships and reproduction is too extreme and unrealistic.
- Contributes to Low Fertility Rates: There are concerns that the 4B philosophy could further contribute to South Korea’s alarmingly low birth rate, posing demographic challenges for the country.
- Oversimplifies Complex Issues: Others find its stance overly simplistic, ignoring the diversity of women’s experiences and the potential for positive partnerships with men.
Implications of the 4B Movement
There are valid concerns related to the plummeting birth and fertility rates namely the drastically changing demographic makeup of the country.
As South Korea’s population ages, there is no younger generation to balance the population demographics.
This trend is what led to the projection that over half of Korea’s population will be over the age of 65 by 2065.
This has serious implications related to Korea’s economic and military capacity.
Other countries have echoed South Korea’s “birth strike” – making it a transnational feminist movement.
Women in China have started their own “four nos” movement, causing the population to start shrinking, and Japan is also experiencing a drastically lowered birth rate because of women’s reluctance to marry and have children.
The Significance of the 4B Movement
Regardless of one’s opinion on its specific tenets, the 4B movement serves as a powerful, if controversial, expression of the profound frustrations of a generation of South Korean women.
It highlights the persistent gender inequalities (women still earn 30% less than men) within society and forces a public conversation about the traditional roles expected of women.
The movement also reflects a broader shift in the perception of marriage and family across many developed nations, where more individuals are opting out of traditional arrangements.
While the 4B movement may not present a universally adopted solution, it has undoubtedly placed women’s rights and their desire for greater agency at the forefront of South Korea’s national discourse.
The long-term impact of this movement remains to be seen, but it has set in motion a crucial debate, sparking conversations that will likely shape the future of gender relations in South Korea for years to come.
The Gender Wage Gap in South Korea – The Borgen Project
Other Countries Resonate
While there’s no evidence of other countries formally adopting the exact 4B Movement as it exists in South Korea, themes and ideas aligned with the movement are finding resonance elsewhere:
- Similar Movements: The 6B4T movement in China shares many of the 4B Movement’s core tenets, with additional focuses on rejecting oppressive beauty standards and hypersexualized media depictions.
- Global Feminist Concerns: Many of the issues underlying the 4B Movement – gender wage inequality, social pressure on women, objectification, exploitation, gender-based violence, misogynistic attitudes, economic hardship – are certainly not unique to South Korea. Many other women in other countries face similar challenges, albeit in varied contexts.
- Changing Attitudes Towards Marriage & Family: Declining fertility rates and rising numbers of single-person households are trends seen in many developed nations like Japan and parts of Europe. This reflects changing priorities and a greater emphasis on individual choice.
In conclusion:
Korean women, faced with precarity and vulnerability in their professional and personal lives, are increasingly rejecting the expected path of motherhood not only in a challenge to patriarchy, but in refusing to engage with the patriarchal system perpetuated through traditional understandings of marriage and family. South Korea’s patriarchal strategy to deal with its demographic security will not be effective, because Korean women have said ‘enough’.
The underlying concerns and desire for greater autonomy that the 4B movement expresses are shared by women around the world and could fuel adaptations of feminist philosophy and activism tailored to the specific conditions within other nations.
Next read>>>How Women Can Seize Control of Their Financial Future in 2024 (msn.com)
Bird flu: Andhra Pradesh officials cull more birds, destroy eggs in Nellore
Sandeep Raghavan / TNN / Updated: Feb 18, 2024, 09:09 IST
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Hundreds of birds culled and eggs destroyed in Nellore due to bird flu. Restaurants instructed not to serve chicken dishes. Special check posts set up to curb transport of poultry birds. Disease successfully contained in Nellore, no reports of outbreak in other areas.
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Though no new bird flu cases have been reported in the district, authorities are on high alert to ensure that the flu does not spread to neighbouring districts
TIRUPATI: Officials culled hundreds of birds and destroyed huge quantity of eggs in the bird flu-affected areas of Nellore on Saturday. Notices have been served to restaurants and roadside eateries not to serve chicken dishes. Special check posts have also been set up to curb the transport of poultry birds.
Though no new bird flu cases have been reported in the district, authorities are on high alert to ensure that the flu does not spread to neighbouring districts.
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While vigil on poultry farms across the state has been intensified, poultry farmers who came in contact with the contaminated birds are also under surveillance for any symptoms as the bird flu variant H5N1, which is currently in circulation, is known to cause human infections too.
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The vigil is particularly high in Krishna and Godavari districts which are considered the hub of poultry industry in the state. Officials told STOI that they could contain the spread of bird flu in Nellore as the disease broke out in backyard poultry farms and not in large commercial farms. More birds have been culled and people warned against venturing into poultry farms as a precautionary measure.
Avian influenza H5N1 cases were reported from Chatagutla in Podalakur and Gummaladibba in Kovur mandals on February 7. Nellore district collector M Harinarayana said the disease has been successfully contained from spreading to other areas.
“We have contained the outbreak in both villages. There have been no reports of outbreak anywhere else in the district. Sanitation measures have been completed. As a precautionary measure, medical teams are visiting all houses to rule out any human infections,” Harinarayana told STOI.
All meat and chicken shops within 1km radius of epicentre shut for 3 months
Poultry industry was established in 1978 in Nellore. Most of the farms are located in Buchireddypalem, Venkatachalam, Kovur, Patur, Kothur, Narukur, Podalakur and Allipuram mandals. Dr B Maheshwarudu, joint director of animal husbandry for Nellore, told STOI that though the outbreak of the bird flu is alarming, the damage done is quite limited as there is no commercial poultry operation in both affected villages. Officials earlier shut down all meat/chicken shops within a 10km radius from the villages for three days and for three months in all villages and towns within 1 km radius of the epicentre.
Bird Flu Crisis Threatens UK Seabirds and Impacts Wildlife Across the Globe
Bird Flu Crisis Threatens UK Seabirds and Impacts Wildlife Across the Globe
The avian world faces a severe crisis due to HPAI, or bird flu, which is decimating seabird populations. Slow-breeding species are struggling to recover, prompting urgent calls for action from scientists and conservationists. The situation is particularly critical in the UK and South Georgia, where various species, including the wandering albatross and great skuas, are experiencing significant losses.
20 Feb 2024 06:01 EST
Updated On 20 Feb 2024 06:03 EST
/bnn/media/media_files/ab3759578fb77cfe14681c2d90e900b628457a62c1f625ceafb945620fe39607.jpg)
In a startling revelation, the avian world is facing a severe crisis that could reshape coastal ecosystems in the UK and beyond. The culprit, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, has been decimating seabird populations over the last two years, with slow-breeding species grappling to recover from significant losses. This grim situation has sparked deep concern among scientists and conservationists, who are now calling for immediate action to mitigate the unfolding ecological disaster.
The Unseen Battle of Our Seabirds
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), in collaboration with the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, has been closely monitoring the impact of HPAI on wildlife. Notably, the disease has been detected in various seabird and seal populations on the sub-antarctic islands of South Georgia. Affected species include the wandering albatross, elephant seals, fur seals, brown skuas, kelp gulls, and Antarctic terns. In the UK, a new study produced by the RSPB, in collaboration with other organizations, paints a bleak picture. The study reveals that populations of nine out of 13 surveyed seabird species have decreased by more than ten percent since 2015, with great skuas experiencing a staggering 76 percent population decline in 2023 alone. This loss is largely attributable to bird flu, marking a critical point for the survival of these species.
Global Impact and Conservation Efforts
While the UK and the sub-antarctic islands face the brunt of the HPAI outbreak, the disease’s impact stretches across the globe. In Luxembourg, the common tern, known for its migratory pattern between Europe and the sunny coasts of Africa, has been designated as the bird of the year for 2024 by natur&ëmwelt Asbl. This initiative, supported by collaborations with the National Museum of Natural History and the Ministries of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, and Education, Children and Youth, aims to promote awareness and appreciation of the common tern among the youth. Efforts to conserve the species, such as providing floating breeding rafts at the Biodiversum nature centre at Haff Réimech since 2017, highlight the importance of maintaining natural habitats for their survival amidst the avian flu pandemic.
The Path Forward: Conservation and Awareness
The ongoing battle against HPAI underscores the critical need for concerted conservation efforts and increased public awareness. As the bird flu crisis continues to threaten biodiversity and disrupt ecosystems, the role of education and community involvement in conservation becomes ever more crucial. By fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of our feathered friends, especially among the youth, there is hope for not only mitigating the current crisis but also for safeguarding the future of avian populations worldwide. The fight against bird flu is not just a battle for the survival of specific species; it’s a fight to preserve the intricate balance of our natural world.
‘It’s killing birds in unprecedented scales’ – bird flu comes closer to NZ
Bobcat, hawks test positive for avian flu in Cornwall
- By Cherise Forbes, Manchester Journal
- Feb 19, 2024 Updated Feb 19, 2024
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MANCHESTER — The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife announced on Friday that a deceased bobcat and two red-tailed hawks in Cornwall – less than 90 minutes from Manchester Center – tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only some strains of avian influenza are considered “highly pathogenic,” marked by severe disease and high mortality in infected poultry.
The lab results showing HPAI were delivered to the Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday, Feb. 15. The Department is now anticipating the results of a second test to confirm the results, which could take “several weeks.”
“Our recommendations to Vermonters are the same as they’ve been since HPAI was first detected in our state – mainly, to avoid direct contact with wild birds,” said David Sausville, Wildlife Management Program Manager with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. “Observe wild birds only from a distance and practice good hygiene around domestic fowl. Practice good biosecurity by keeping domestic fowl and other pets away from areas where wild birds gather, like bird feeding stations or duck ponds.”
Though HPAI has been circulating in the state since 2022, the infected bobcat is the first case of HPAI virus in a mammal from Vermont. Though transmission to mammals is uncommon according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, other cases have also been reported in multiple states including New York and Connecticut.
Within Vermont, HPAI has been detected in both wild and domestic birds over the past two years. As of Monday, Feb. 19 the Department of Fish and Wildlife reported 72 wild birds infected with HPAI in Vermont on its website. Previously infected birds include red tailed hawks like the two found in Cornwall, Canada geese, wood ducks, mallards, black ducks, turkey vultures, and bald eagles. Two outbreaks among domestic fowl have occurred in Caledonia and Lamoille counties, with both flocks being depopulated.
Game Warden Kyle Isherwood has served the towns of Manchester, Dorset, Peru, Winhall, Stratton, Weston, Landgrove, Londonderry, Jamaica, Andover, Windham and Townshend for seven years. During this time, Isherwood says that he has submitted avian influenza cases for testing, though none have come back positive.
Even with the first mammal fatality in Vermont, Isherwood said that there is no cause for alarm.
“Birds have wings and can fly anywhere they want, so I don’t think that this positive case out of Addison County changes much,” he said. “As long as everyone takes some simple precautions, there is a low chance of this affecting humans.”
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