Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin criticized an Alabama Supreme Court ruling defining frozen embryos as children, saying it doesn’t align with the Republican Party or anti-abortion movement.
Alabama justices ruled Feb. 16 there are no exceptions for embryos under an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child.
“Alabama's wrongful-death statute allows an action to be brought for the wrongful death of any unborn child,” Alabama Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in a majority opinion.
The ruling prompted some in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics to shut down because they feared lawsuits or criminal prosecution. The impacts of this decision are personal to Mullin, who spoke with CNN on Sundayabout his and his wife’s seven-year struggle with fertility. But he said he’s optimistic Alabama lawmakers will pass legislation protecting IVF access.
“I'm not the only one in the Republican Party, for that matter, the only one in politics that has struggled having children,” Mullin said. “This had nothing to do with politics. This is a ruling of a court that I believe that the Alabama state legislators are probably going to fix.”
The Alabama House and Senate passed bills following the decision seeking to protect medical professionals from liability related to IVF clinics.
Mullin said the ruling is “not the position” of the Republican Party. But U.S. Republicans Josh Brecheen (OK-02) and Tom Cole (OK-04) are two House representatives among 125 who’ve signed on to the Life at Conception Act, which would extend Constitutional rights to embryos at the moment of fertilization or cloning.
Currently, the act lacks protections for IVF.
Mullin said if IVF needs to be federally protected, he would support that and is optimistic other Republicans would.
“Hopefully, we don't have to do this federally, but if we do need to, I can assure you I'll be right in the middle of that fight, fighting for it,” Mullin said.
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