As hospitals across Alabama pause IVF treatments, Nikki Haley is suddenly trying to claim she never said what she said.

As hospitals across Alabama pause IVF treatments, Nikki Haley is suddenly trying to claim she never said what she said.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is frantically trying to quell the controversy over comments she made about IVF after an Alabama court’s recent ruling that frozen embryos are children.

“We don’t want fertility treatment to shut down, we don’t want them to stop doing IVF treatment, we don’t want them to stop doing artificial insemination,” Haley said on CNN on Thursday. “But I think this needs to be decided by the people in every state. Don’t take away the rights of these physicians and these parents to have these conversations.”

It was Haley’s second such attempt to explain away her controversial stance on the issue. On Wednesday evening, Haley blurted out a much more gibberish response.

“Well first off all, this is, again, I didn’t say that I agreed with the Alabama ruling. The question that I was asked is ‘do I believe an embryo is a baby?’” Haley said on CNN Wednesday evening. “I do think that if you look in the definition, an embryo is considered an unborn baby. And so yes, I believe, from my stance, that that is.”

But calling an embryo—the stage before the microscopic cellular mass is labeled a fetus—an unborn baby is not exactly correct.

  • teejay@lemmy.worldEnglish
    160·
    9 months ago

    This is such an easy layup for any reporter. Haley had her own son via IVF. Part of the IVF process is to reject embryos kill babies and only implant the most viable one(s). Someone should ask her how many of her embryos she rejected babies she killed in order to have her son. Bonus for the follow up question: Why was this baby killing ok for you, but not for others?

  • Dkarma@lemmy.world
    81·
    9 months ago

    She can’t even get the definition of embryo right and we should trust her with nukes??

  • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
    81·
    9 months ago

    There is no such thing as an “unborn baby”. It’s not a baby until it’s born. Before that, it’s fetus, before that an embryo, and before that a zygote. This is why uneducated idiots should not be making decisions which involve science and medicine.

    Edit: fixed

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    65·
    9 months ago

    In Handmaid’s Tale–esque fashion, Haley has tried to toe the line on the issue of third-party fertility in a futile effort to keep voters from turning away from her floundering campaign, even though she conceived her son via artificial insemination.

    Jesus fucking Christ, these people. For fuck’s sake!

  • massacre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    9 months ago

    Don’t take away the rights of these physicians and these parents to have these conversations.”

    So… she’s pro choice?

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    39·
    9 months ago

    Maybe she should get clear on the definitions, and make a statement on what she actually believes.
    Because this correction she just made, is based on a very fundamental misunderstanding of what an embryo is.

      • neoman4426@kbin.social
        17·
        9 months ago

        Which is weird since their own book explicitly says life begins at first breath, provides instructions for a cheating detecting potion that’ll induce abortion if the woman cheated, etc

    • Jaysyn@kbin.social
      16·
      9 months ago

      Maybe she should get clear on the definitions

      She knows. She’s apparently had IVF herself.

      What a piece of shit, scumbag hypocrite she is.

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
      6·
      9 months ago

      Nah. They are based on a basic misunderstanding of what “the Republican base” actually wants.

  • Ech@lemm.eeEnglish
    27·
    9 months ago

    Oh no! Businesses are shockingly deciding it’s not worth possible manslaughter charges for possible technical malfunctions. How fucking surprising.

    These fucking idiots never think about how this stuff could affect them until it does. As long as it only hurts the right people, they cheer it on.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    27·
    9 months ago

    Oh Christ here we go again with the StAtEs RiGhTs lie…

    It’s one thing if arguments were made in good faith, but these assholes just hide behind the states rights issue until they’re in the position to make it federal…

    • fluxion@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      9 months ago

      Those same states will stomp all over city government rights when it comes to district maps, voting locations, schools, and local mandates/statutes. DeSantis even has his fist up Disneyland’s ass. America would be a collection of shitholes if not for federal government. Wouldn’t be surprised if we’d still have slavery.

  • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
    21·
    9 months ago

    I posted about this a few days after Roe was overturned. I’m a bit surprised it took this long for IVF to be attacked. Next will be stem cell research, then contraception.

    If you were an adult in the 1980s-90s, you’ll remember this.

    Haley might be young, but she’s an idiot if she didn’t see this coming. It was her own party that made these same moves 40 years ago, and they haven’t been subtle about repeating history.

    I guess all republicans are morons, but come on. This is not a surprise.

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
    19·
    9 months ago

    What I found hilarious (except not) was that she said it should be a conversation between a woman and her doctor, although the embryo is a baby and killing it is murder so… Not much to discuss there is there?

    Discussion is pretty much conspiracy to commit murder under that law, right?

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
    14·
    9 months ago

    I think the Alabama law is quite clear. Every month a woman’s egg drops and she doesn’t go get impregnated, she’s a murderer. All women need to be pregnant from puberty to menopause, and if they aren’t, they’re killing babies.

    Yep.

    Bunch of damned retards.

    • kofe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      9 months ago

      Wait, I don’t want to confuse what the ruling actually means. Embryos are fertilized, so an egg going without fertilization and being passed through menstruation doesn’t meet that definition. If it is fertilized and is still passed through menstruation (as what, a good quarter of pregnancies do?) then sure.

      I’ll be there first to point out hypocrisy and the authoritarian big government this would require to prove (and likely would affect minorities disproportionately), but I don’t think it helps to distort what this law means. It very well could be a slippery slope towards it, and yes is still enormously stupid, but it doesn’t meet the threshold of what you’re arguing. Unless I’ve misunderstood the wording of the law?

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 months ago

      Conservatives are losers

      Majority of governorships and plurality of state legislatures. Nevermind all the fucking judge and sheriff seats.

      I would love if liberals could lose like that.

  • GreenAlex@kbin.social
    10·
    9 months ago

    So she doesn’t want IVF to stop but does still think embryos are babies. To me this reads like someone who thinks literally all embryos retrieved during the IVF process must be used. For those who aren’t aware, IVF can potentially end up with 8 or so viable embryos.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    9 months ago

    Nikki Haley is a fundamentalist extremist that is advocating for a full ban on abortions after six weeks (which makes abortions essentially entirely illegal). Just because she isn’t Trump doesn’t mean she isn’t fucking crazy.