Recently, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos used in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) have the same legal rights as living, breathing, flesh-and-blood children. Concerned about the impact of the ruling, Alabama Republicans scrambled to pass a law giving legal immunity to IVF providers in the state. The immediate problem was resolved, but the theocratic thinking behind the court decision is widely shared in conservative areas of the United States. One in four states have fetal personhood laws. Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama incarcerate women who are found to have…