Biden Rips Alabama Ruling, While Harris Blames Trump

President Biden condemned the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that considers frozen embryos to be children, as his vice president and campaign took the opportunity to place responsibility for the decision on Donald Trump. In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Biden called the ruling the "direct result" of the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, NBC News reports. He said that women are having to travel hundreds of miles for reproductive health care and doctors who provide an abortion fear being prosecuted for it. "And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant," Biden said. "The disregard for women's ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable."

In Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris called Republicans who support a national abortion ban extremists, per the New York Times, and called state bans that lack exceptions for sexual assault or incest immoral. "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," Harris said, per NBC. "And that's what got us to this point today." A Biden-Harris campaign spokesman pointed out that Trump was due to speak Thursday evening in Tennessee, one of the states without exceptions for rape or incest. The Republican presidential candidate will "come face to face with the horrific reality he created," Kevin Munoz said.

Trump has taken credit for the Dobbs decision that tossed out Roe v. Wade, and many Democrats see abortion rights as an issue that could trim Trump's support, per Politico. Trump hasn't addressed the Alabama ruling publicly, while prominent Republicans tried not to at a Politico event Thursday. "I haven't studied the issue," Sen. Tim Scott said. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he didn't know the details but generally supports IVF. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declined to discuss the court decision but also said he supports use of the fertility procedure. (More abortion rights stories.)