In an interview, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley responded to the Alabama Supreme Court's recent ruling that frozen embryos can be considered people under state law, a decision that critics say could have widespread impacts on fertility treatments.
"Embryos, to me, are babies," Haley, the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said in an interview with NBC News released Wednesday, later adding: "When you talk about an embryo, you are talking about, to me -- that’s a life, and so I do see where that’s coming from when they talk about that."
Alabama's highest court, which is completely dominated by Republicans, ruled that "unborn children are 'children' ... without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics." That decision has raised major questions about in-vitro fertilization, with experts warning that classifying embryos as children could complicate the procedure.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 4 million births annually in the U.S., or 1-2%, are from IVF. The treatment can be a costly one, with the average cost of a single IVF cycle costing between $10,000-15,000, per Penn Medicine, and experts are concerned that the Alabama ruling could raise those costs further.
When asked if she has concerns about how that could harm people seeking in IVF treatment, Haley said that doctors and patients need to have those conversations together: "It's incredibly personal, it's incredibly sensitive, and I think that's the conversation the doctor needs to have with the patient. Let's never underestimate the importance of the relationship between a doctor and patient when they're doing any of that."
Haley recalled her experience utilizing artificial insemination to have her son, which is a different procedure from IVF.
"This is one where we need to be incredibly respectful and sensitive about it," Haley said. "I know that when my doctor came in, we knew what was possible and what wasn't, and we also took precautions of how this was going to go ... so we knew before we went in exactly what we were looking at. Every woman needs to know, with her partner, what she's looking at, and then when you look at that, then you make the decision that's best for your family."
When asked if possible legislation defining frozen embryos as unborn human lives could have a chilling effect on the procedure, Haley said she'd want to look at what lawmakers are considering, weighing certain concerns like if an embryo is viable or not.
"Those are all sensitive subjects where the details matter," she said. "And we need to look at the details and we need to see where that is. Now when you see more women who are having trouble getting pregnant and you see more women doing artificial and in-vitro, those are conversations where we need to have, but it's also conversations where we need to have women and doctors involved in the conversation."
Haley has sought to find "consensus" on the issue of abortion, one which has taken center stage since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022. Since then, abortion rights advocates have seen major wins in states nationwide, including traditionally red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana, and Democrats have seized on it after strong showings in 2022 and 2023 elections.
While polling has shown abortion is extremely popular in the United States, there is less data surveying IVF specifically. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe fertility treatments should be covered by health insurance, according to a Gallup survey from last year, and a growing number of women have said they or someone they know has received fertility treatments -- 42%, up from 33% in 2018.