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Former President Donald Trump says he backs in-vitro fertilization, known as IVF, and called on Alabama Republicans to protect the fertility treatment after a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court resulted in the closure of several clinics offering IVF. 

“We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.” 

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that frozen embryos created through in-vitro fertilization are considered children under state law and are therefore subject to legislation dealing with the wrongful death of a minor if one is destroyed. 

“The Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location,” the opinion states, including “unborn children who are located outside of a biological uterus at the time they are killed.” 

The ruling allows three couples to sue for wrongful death after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic, but it has broader implications for the fertility industry and the handling of unused embryos.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the state’s largest hospital, paused IVF treatments after the ruling. 

The National Fertility Association announced Friday that embryo shipping services nationwide indicated they planned to pause transport of embryos to and from Alabama as a result of the decision. 

President Biden on Thursday called the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling “outrageous and unacceptable.” And Vice President Kamala Harris blamed Trump for the Alabama decision.

“When you look at the fact that the previous president of the United States was clear in his intention to hand pick three Supreme Court justices who would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade, and he did it and that’s what got us to this point today,” Harris said. 

Sara Moniuszko contributed to this report.