A lot of attention has been focused on an upcoming U.S. House primary in Alabama. The U.S. Supreme Court approved a voting map that a lower court ruled was discriminatory against blacks. That’s not the only thing on the “to do” list for the state’s voters. A Republican runoff is set for next Tuesday in the race for Alabama Attorney General. Candidates typically work to set themselves apart from each other.
Jay Mitchell wants to be Alabama's GOP candidate for attorney general. So does Katherine Robertson. Mitchell sat on the Alabama Supreme Court from 2018 to 2025. Robertson served as chief counsel to the state's attorney general for over a decade. Those career paths crossed at a critical time in early 2024.
“So essentially this was a case where some embryos accidentally got destroyed that a couple had stored,” said Regina Wagner. She's an associate professor of political science at the University of Alabama.
“And so, they basically made the argument that this, that these embryos were equivalent to their children,” said Wagner.
Jay Mitchell wrote the majority opinion for the Alabama Supreme Court. It stated that frozen embryos were children. Katherine Robertson helped handle Alabama's response during the political fallout. Wagner says the ruling on in vitro fertilization, or IVF, was like a political rush fire, and it's still spreading.
“So IVF is generally more popular, even among Republican voters, and even among some, some voters who consider themselves to be pro-life, than abortion is right, because it's generally used when people are trying to have a child, and there's sort of more, you know, more support across the board for that,” said Wagner.
The Alabama Public Radio newsroom reached out to candidates Jay Mitchell and Katherine Robertson for comment. We wanted their thoughts on the state Supreme Court ruling and its aftermath that frozen embryos are children. Katherine Robertson was the only one who responded.
“Married couples in America experience infertility,” she said. “My husband and I were one of those couples. So this is an issue that I am very sensitive to, and it's one that I paid attention to the minute the opinion was put out, I also happened to be very pro-life, and I did not think in any way that this opinion did anything to move the pro-life movement forward. Pro-lifers have always believed that these debates need to happen with a change at the legislative level.”
“So, the room was filled with Alabama women, predominantly conservative, conservative Alabama women who want the rights to create a family however they need to do it,” said Diane Tober, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama. Tober was at the State Capitol while lawmakers debated a measure to protect IVF in Alabama. She says she was surrounded by conservative women in a pro-life state arguing in favor of IVF.
“Which I find ironic, because for a number of reasons, but I'll let that go, but they want their rights to have a child, right, and if they need donor egg to not have IVF available, for example, would be truly devastating for these, for the people who, who rely on donor eggs to have a child,” said Tober.
She wrote the book "Eggonomics" which focuses on the darker side of infertility. She discussed her experiences on APR Notebook last year. The topic of IVF and the state Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are children apparently hasn't worn off with the voting public.
“But this is the first time, really specifically, IVF has been on the ballot in that way, in a very meaningful way,” said Ariana Injeian who is a doctoral student at the University of Alabama. She's studying the political impact when it comes to the availability of infertility services.
“You believe that there are going to be a lot more voter mobilization in general amongst the population who are directly affected by infertility or accessing fertility treatments,” Said Injeian.
She was initially focusing on Latin America, but the state Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are children brought the matter back to Alabama in a hurry.
“And we are going to see people mobilizing around that specific topic when they go to the polls, and that's going to be different,” Injeian said.
“Yeah, I mean, that I think that will be interesting,” said Professor Regina Wagner, whom we met at the start of our story. She'll be watching how voters cast their ballots next Tuesday, and the message those voters will send.
“I think will tell us something about, you know, where does the Alabama Republican Party think that voters stand on this, that you know, people in the state stand on it,” said Wagner.
