This is a guest opinion column

“Our bodies, our choice.”

“Women’s bodies, women’s rights.”

“You can’t cuddle an embryo.”

“Mind your own uterus.”

Sound familiar? An abortion rights rally, right? Actually, no, not this time. These are the rallying cries resounding through the Alabama State House this week as doctors and patients and supporters of in vitro fertilization (IVF) have come together to demand a remedy to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos constitute minor children under the law.

The court’s ruling has led IVF clinics to pause their services and left many IVF patients uncertain about whether or not they will be able to continue their pregnancy journeys. This is because in the normal cycle of IVF treatments, embryos are damaged or destroyed or they fail to implant in a person’s uterus. IVF clinics cannot operate if each loss of an embryo is considered the wrongful death of a minor child. Thankfully, lawmakers were very quick to act on this. Unfortunately, the bill being fast-tracked through the legislature this week that will likely be signed into law is not a long-term solution. While the bill guarantees immunity for those providing or receiving IVF services, it does not address the root of the problem, which is that frozen embryos are considered unborn life.

In scrambling to pass legislation this week to “save IVF”, many lawmakers are doing everything they can to isolate protections to this one aspect of infertility care without acknowledging the through line that threatens every other aspect of reproductive health. The ruling rests on the Court’s interpretation of a 2018 Constitutional Amendment that enshrines the “sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children.” This was used to pass the Human Life Protection Act in 2019, which banned abortion from the moment of conception and went into effect after the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade.

I have heard it said that the pause in IVF services is an “unintended consequence” of the fetal personhood movement. First it was used to ban abortion, now it is being used to restrict IVF. What’s next? This interpretation of the 2018 amendment could be used to outlaw hormonal birth control and IUDs, which disrupt the implantation of a fertilized egg, or to criminalize miscarriage. We will not let that happen. All pregnancies – whether they are intentional or unintentional – and all life situations are unique. No one needs or wants the government in the room interfering with that process. One-size-fits-all laws are impractical and dangerous, and Alabamians deserve better.

Now that the context has changed and Alabamians better understand the implications of the 2018 sanctity of life amendment, we deserve a chance to re-vote on the amendment. Additionally, we want to see Alabama lawmakers pass a comprehensive maternal healthcare bill that would address Alabama’s maternal and infant mortality crisis. The reproductive justice movement insists that all individuals and communities deserve access to the full range of health and social services that afford people the right to have or not have children and to raise those children in safe and healthy environments. So, while the IVF situation has brought a new urgency to the present moment, truly achieving reproductive justice is a long game. We need Alabamians to stay in this fight to expand and protect reproductive freedoms broadly and permanently for all Alabamians.

Courtney Andrews is the ACLU of Alabama’s Reproductive Rights Policy Strategist