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'Outrageous': Biden slams Alabama embryo ruling

STORY: U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday hit out at a controversial Alabama court ruling over frozen embryos created through in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, calling it "outrageous and unacceptable."Alabama's Supreme Court ruled last Friday that frozen embryos in test tubes should be considered children and entitled to the same legal rights as other unborn children, raising legal questions and rattling doctors and patients in reproductive medicine. It marks the latest controversy surrounding reproductive rights in the United States after the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade that had granted a constitutional right to abortion.At least three Alabama IVF providers have halted treatments since the Friday ruling by the state's top court, whose elected judges are all Republican.One of the clinics, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said it worries that "our patients and team members could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for merely following the standard of care for IVF treatments."Health advocates say by enshrining the idea of "fetal personhood," the ruling could also inspire further restrictions on women's reproductive freedom across the country.In a statement on Thursday, Biden said the ruling had put access to fertility treatment "at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant."The Democratic president added: "The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable. Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade."Former Republican president Donald Trump has taken credit for appointing three right-wing justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, which secured the majority needed to overturn Roe.Though Trump has also avoided saying whether he would sign a national abortion ban into law.The issue was seen to have triggered voter backlash that left the Republican Party with an underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans have largely steered clear of reproductive rights issues this election cycle.On Wednesday, Trump's last standing Republican rival Nikki Haley said in an interview with NBC that she believed embryos were "babies".But hours later, she told CNN she did not agree with the Alabama ruling.Haley said she believed Alabama law needed to be reviewed, adding, "We don't want fertility treatments to shut down."