Chief Justice Tom Parker last week ruled on behalf of the Alabama Supreme Court that all fertilized human embryos are children. The case arose because a man at a Mobile, Alabama IVF clinic accidently dropped a vial of cryo-frozen fertilized eggs, destroying them, and the parents from whom they came sued the clinic under Alabama’s “wrongful death of a minor” act. Judge Parker ruled on the appeal from a lower court that the embryos, or “extrauterine children,” as he called them, were subject to this particular law and therefore the clinic was to be held responsible for the children’s wrongful death. The ruling can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ycydv35p, with Judge Parker’s concurrence starting on page 26. Here is a quote from his ruling, where he is talking about whether IVF procedures should be an exception to the Alabama state law defining unborn embryos as children:

“Carving out an exception for the people in this case, small as they were, would be unacceptable to the People of this State, who have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made
them in His image.”

Naturally, if this ruling becomes more widespread, then IVF would become impossible. Technically, although it might not be illegal, no U.S. clinic would want to take on the potential liability. Notably, he quotes the Bible copiously in his ruling.

We all recall the Bible passage in Matthew (or was it Revelation? I may have forgotten) that says that “Behold thee, ye microscopic fertilized but not implanted eggs, which you cannot see, for they are in thy mother’s womb, or perhaps they are not; they are all God’s children and their destruction is the sin of murder.” (OK, just for the record I made this up.)

NPR’s “On the Media” recently ran an interview with Matthew D. Taylor, an academic who studies Christian extremism. Taylor reports that judge Parker is a member of a group calling itself the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR. A central tenet of the NAR belief system is that God has given them a mandate to dominate (that is, take control over) the seven aspects, or “mountains,” of US society, which are family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. Yup, seven. Judge Parker is diligently climbing the government mountain.

NAR cites Revelation 17:1–18, verse 9 which reads, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains.” I did not make this verse up; you can read all of revelation 17 for yourself if you don’t believe me, although I would not recommend it. NAR believes that dominating all aspects of cultural and national leadership, and converting these parts of America to adhere to the NAR’s religious beliefs, will usher in the apocalyptic end times. They call this their “seven mountain mandate.”

Does this sound like a good idea to you?

Parker is not the only member of our government who ascribes to the seven mountain mandate – Mike Johnson, the current House Speaker, is also on board, as are several other members of Congress. They want to change the US Government away from our current Constitution so that it conforms to (their) understanding of the Christian Bible.

While I certainly am not a Biblical scholar, my reading up on this passage informs me that Revelation 17 describes the end times war between God and the idolatrous, or sinful, governments of the earth. A woman harlot and the beast represent the Satan-powered evil governments who rule over earth, but then succumb to Jesus in his triumphal second coming. After God gives four angels the temporary power to destroy everything. The seven mountains are thus to be dominated so that this prophecy can be fulfilled, the earth can be almost destroyed, and Jesus can return to rule on earth to live gloriously with the saints that are still remaining. The NAR must believe that they will be among these remaining saints. I wish I had made this part up, but sorry, no.

So, the NAR followers are on a Holy War to take over everything and drive out Satan from amongst us. Because of the high stakes of this perceived Holy War, where God is in the final battle against Satan, they are not interested in compromise. And since one of the NAR beliefs is that life starts at conception, Judge Parker feels pretty comfortable ruling that dropping a cryo-frozen fertilized embryo on the floor is murdering a child.

But wait! There’s more!

There was plenty of talk in the news about IVF as a result of this judicial ruling. But, it also got me thinking about the process of conception, and how life starts. Judge Parker, recall, believes that life – or humanity – begins when an egg is fertilized. However, biology doesn’t work that way. The medical consensus is that pregnancy starts at the implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus, which is typically a few days following fertilization. Here is a short but ranty video by Bill Nye, the Science Guy. https://tinyurl.com/y4v3cpvh.

He points out that whenever a couple goes forth to multiply, some eggs are fertilized naturally by the process that do not implant in the uterus and therefore do not become children. The number of fertilized eggs that result from the “going forth to multiply” process is somewhat random. If, for example, two of the fertilized eggs successfully implant, then you get twins. The fertilized but not implanted eggs are naturally eliminated from the woman’s body as part of the normal process. It has always worked this way, even in Biblical times.

I have looked at a number of other sources of information about how babies are made, and what Bill Nye says is true. For example, according to the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health, about half of all fertilized eggs are lost in the normal process of conception.

This means that, according to Judge Tom Parker, you can’t get pregnant without murdering a lot of children. Or to put it another way, the Alabama law – and his ruling – make every mother a criminal, and make motherhood a crime. When Judge Parker figures this out he will be shocked. Let’s not tell him.