{"id":29230,"date":"2024-03-03T08:46:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T13:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=29230"},"modified":"2024-03-03T08:46:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T13:46:04","slug":"alabama-ivf-ruling-is-the-first-step-toward-autocratic-theocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=29230","title":{"rendered":"Alabama IVF ruling is the first step toward autocratic theocracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Rich Heiland<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are living children is a cruel blow to women and families, but it\u2019s even worse than that\u2026<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n

The decision makes it clear once and for all what the Republican Party of Donald Trump wants \u2013 not just an autocracy but an autocratic theocracy. If this decision stands and spreads it will gut the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

THE ALABAMA SUPREME COURT has just shouted out what the position of the Republican Party is when it comes not just to women but to the ultimate goal of the party \u2013 to create a theocracy to rule over the United States. It is a goal the Founding Fathers not only did not support but sought to protect the new nation from in the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

To be sure, the Alabama ruling in LePage etal ruling that an embryo, frozen in a tube, is real, living human being is a savage blow not just to women but to families seeking to have children in the only way they can. Because of this ruling any harm that befalls an embryo, intended or not, in the state of Alabama may well be viewed as murder.<\/p>\n

(You can see the entire opinion here: https:\/\/publicportal.alappeals.gov\/portal\/court\/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13\/case\/343D203A-B13D-463A-8176-C46E3AE4F695<\/a>)<\/p>\n

It is bad law that seeks to support its legal positions by going back into the 1800s when abortion existed only in back alleys and embryos were not discussed at all. But it is not the legal citations that should cause alarm.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker<\/p><\/div>\n

To see the real threat to our nation in this decision, you have to delve into the concurrence written by Chief Justice Tom Parker to support the 7-2 decision.<\/p>\n

The ruling is based on Alabama\u2019s \u201cwrongful death\u201d law, which goes back to the 1872. All states have such a law, though wording may vary. What this decision does is to expand definitions of wrongful death to not just the unborn but to that which cannot be born without the help of science \u2013 the implantation of an embryo into a uterus.<\/p>\n

Parker starts out noting the Alabama Constitution, as amended in 2018 as a result of anti-abortion campaigning, stated that the \u201csanctity of life\u201d required protection of unborn children and their rights.\u201d Since the Constitution does define what sanctity of life is, Parker veers off into a search for the definition of sanctity that relies almost exclusively on the Bible and a 17th Century Dutch theologian, Petrus Van Mastrich.<\/p>\n

Parker cites several other theologians to make the point that if man is created in the image of God then taking of any life basically constitute destroying God. He cites anti-abortion writings and rulings about when life begins to make the leap to a frozen embryo being viable life that images God.<\/p>\n

Writes Parker \u2013 \u201c 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. Section 36.06 recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life \u2014 that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be easy to dismiss Parker as a fringe figure, but it would be wrong. Fringe or not he presides over the highest court in Alabama and left unchallenged (or affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court) this decision well could appear in multiple Republican-dominated states.<\/p>\n

So, who is Parker? He is a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore who gained national fame for ordering the Ten Commandments displayed in public buildings across the state. Parker, in 2004 as a judicial candidate, handed out Confederate flags at the funeral of a Confederate widow. He also appeared with known white supremacists. He has listed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas among his heroes.<\/p>\n

As far back as 2014 he was gaining attention as a first-term sitting justice. An article by Nina Martin in Propublica talks about a right-wing conference Parker attended. Parker told the assemblage that \u201cthe very God of Holy Scriptures, the Creator, is the source of law, liberty and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told attendees that \u201cIt\u2019s the judges who have legalized abortion and homosexualilty\u2026they are shaking the very foundation of our society.\u201d When it comes to parental rights, he told the conference \u201cGod, not the state, has granted parents the authority and responsibility to govern their children. Parents should be able to do so unfettered by state interference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently Parker appeared on a radio show with Johnny Enlow, who is considered a \u201cQAnon prophet.\u201d According to Right Wing Watch Enlow has said:<\/p>\n