Alabama

Leaving Alabama’s IVF programs open to attack | BRIAN LYMAN

Published

2 days ago

July 1, 2024

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Leaving Alabama’s IVF programs open to attack | BRIAN LYMAN

Brian Lyman
| ALABAMA REFLECTOR

A recent episode of Dan Carlin’s “Hardcore History” podcast offered an appropriate metaphor for Alabama politics.

Carlin discussed Alexander the Great, the ancient Greeks and their methods of fighting. When those kingdoms and city states came to blows, they put on their armor, grabbed their shields and formed tight units called phalanxes. Each man in the phalanx — which could run dozens of rows deep — carried a tall spear in his right hand and a shield in his left.

Being reasonable people, the ancient Greeks wanted to minimize their risk of getting stabbed by long sticks. So when that possibility loomed, a soldier would raise his shield with his left hand, and huddle as much as he could behind the shield of the person on his right.

As a result, phalanxes tended to drift to the right during combat. That was the safest part of the battlefield.

These hoplites would feel at home in the Alabama Legislature. The politicians in our mostly Republican government fear that if they don’t appease the extremes, they’ll leave themselves open to attack.

So they drift to the right. Where they feel safe.

And this means they debate issues that aren’t a matter of debate.

Did Alabamians as a whole want to keep up statues of long-dead white supremacists?

Are programs that encourage people to get along dehumanizing?

Do medical professionals helping teenagers navigate gender dysphoria deserve prison time?

Should Alabama force the victim of a sexual assault to carry a resulting pregnancy to term?

Don’t second-guess yourself. Reasonable people had come to a consensus on these matters.

But in Alabama’s one-party system of government, unreasonable people drive the conversations.

This is how you get a government that makes it hard for Black communities to remove statues of slaveholders; that makes life hell for transgender youth, and that forces victims of rape and incest to repeatedly live out their traumas.

It doesn’t serve the people of the state. But our government wasn’t designed for the people here. It’s aimed at ensuring that the powerful stay that way.

With one party perpetually in charge, primaries are more important than general elections. Primaries draw the most extreme GOP partisans.

And so our leaders step to the right to ensure they survive those battles.

In general, this need to appease the extremes falls hardest on marginalized groups — like transgender people, who make up less than 1% of Alabama’s population. The state’s leaders have an ugly tradition of targeting people with limited ability to fight back. But in general, they’ve left popular ideas or services alone.

But now in vitro fertilization has the attention of extremists.

It’s another issue that wasn’t broadly controversial until February. Who would object to loving couples having children? Well, the Alabama Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Tom Parker, who wants to impose a reactionary version of Christianity on the state.

Justices ruled in February that a frozen embryo was a child. Destruction of frozen embryos could mean a parent could collect damages. Which made it very hard for IVF clinics in the state to operate.

Amid a national outcry, the Republican-controlled Legislature swiftly passed a law to protect IVF providers from criminal and civil liability.

But will they stick with it?

Republican leaders decided not to consider proposals from Democrats that would have addressed the heart of the Alabama Supreme Court’s finding on fetal personhood. The immunity bill was sold to lawmakers as a stopgap proposition that would allow legislators to explore the issue in depth, through a commission.

Of course, IVF wasn’t an issue until the state courts made it so. But now we’re seeing the outlines of a more sustained attack on the service.

Already, litigation in Mobile County is challenging the Legislature’s fix. The Southern Baptists, who count many Alabama lawmakers as congregants, now oppose helping infertile couples with this treatment.

Can we count on lawmakers to resist this new offensive?

The early signs aren’t good. Legislators keep punting on that IVF commission. If the Mobile County lawsuit gets to the Alabama Supreme Court, the law could be a goner. Parker all but invited challenges to legislative fixes in his concurrence to the court’s ruling in February.

And people already teetering over the right edge of public discourse now want restrictions on a procedure they showed little interest in before the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling. Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, even compared current IVF procedures in the state to the Holocaust.

I’d like to think that making it hard to have babies would be too much for our self-professed “pro-life” politicians. They could stiffen against this assault — if not for families pursuing IVF, then for keeping the support of suburban GOP voters.

But I also thought no one would ever force sexual assault victims to carry their attackers’ children. The Alabama Legislature did. And faced no consequences.

It doesn’t matter that IVF is popular. If extremists shout down support for the procedure, our leaders will start seeking protection.

They will take yet another step to the right. And as they do, they’ll leave infertile couples open to attack.

Brian Lyman is the editor of Alabama Reflector. He has covered Alabama politics since 2006, and worked at the Montgomery Advertiser, the Press-Register and The Anniston Star. His work has won awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Alabama Press Association and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. He lives in Auburn with his wife, Julie, and their three children.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, an independent nonprofit website covering politics and policy in state capitals around the nation.

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Alabama

Alabama reality show star dead at 42 was ‘full of life, love and laughter’

Published

5 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Alabama reality show star dead at 42 was ‘full of life, love and laughter’

Ne’Keshia “Keke” Dawson Jabbar, one of the stars of the reality show “Love & Marriage: Huntsville,” died Tuesday, according to a statement from her family.

TMZ reported Jabbar was 42.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

The statement was read on the YouTube channel of vlogger Marcella Speaks.

“It is with extreme sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Keke. She passed away peacefully at home surrounded by love,” the statement read.

“She was a mom, a sister, a great friend full of life, love and laughter. She will sorely be missed. At this time, we are asking for respect and privacy in our moment of grief while we process this great loss,” the statement continued. It was signed “the Jabbar/Scott Family.”

Jabbar was featured in the most recent seasons of the Oprah Winfrey Network show, which premiered in January 2019 and showcases the lives of prominent Black families in Huntsville.

Jabbar was the cousin of LaTisha Scott, who is featured prominently in the series along with her husband, Marsau Scott.

“At this time we are asking for RESPECT, and PRIVACY in our moment of grief, while we process this great loss!This is hard for our Family!!!!!” LaTisha Scott posted Tuesday to her Instagram account:

According to her social media profiles, Jabbar was also a writer, editor, author and professor of English at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville.

Charlotte Teague, chairwoman of the university’s English Department, said Jabbar was an instructor in the department several years ago and had not worked for the department in more than five years.

“I am sad to hear of her passing,” Teague said.

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Alabama

Alabama Power credit union CEO Derrick E. Ragland Jr. named League of Southern Credit Unions Professional of the Year

Published

12 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Alabama Power credit union CEO Derrick E. Ragland Jr. named League of Southern Credit Unions Professional of the Year

Derrick E. Ragland, Jr., president and CEO of APCO Employees Credit Union, was recently named League of Southern Credit Unions (LSCU) Professional of the Year for the state of Alabama. Awards for Professional and Young Professional of the Year were presented at the 2024 Southeast Credit Union Conference & Expo in

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Alabama

Jumbo Package: Alabama lands four on Preseason All-American Team

Published

19 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Jumbo Package: Alabama lands four on Preseason All-American Team

Offensive guard Tyler Booker made the first team, alongside new kicker Graham Nicholson. Nicholson transferred in from Miami of Ohio, where he was a first-team all-American, and won the Lou Groza award as the nation’s top kicker, beating out UA’s Will Reichard.
Booker returns for his junior season as one of Alabama’s offensive line leaders. He remained with the Crimson Tide through the head coach transition from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer.
One of his fellow offensive linemen, Washington transfer Parker Brailsford, was named to the second-team list for Alabama. Brailsford missed most of spring practice for personal reasons after following DeBoer from the Huskies, but is primed to return for the season, likely in UA’s starting center job.
Nicholson’s special teams counterpart, punter James Burnip, was also listed for the Crimson Tide. Burnip, a native of Australia, ranked second in the SEC last season, averaging 47.6 yards per punt, and was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, which goes to the top punter in college football.

Check it out! Alabama enters the preseason with four All-Americans, per Walter Camp. It’s also kinda funny that two of them are special teamers, and two of them are transfers.

Only Tyler Booker and James Burnip are All-Americans from last year’s Alabama squad.

Interestingly (or maybe not), Jalen Milroe was left off of the list. Carson Beck was QB1 and Quinn Ewers was QB2.

I do think Deontae Lawson could be in consideration with any of the other linebackers on the list – however, I totally understand that his injuries the last two seasons have kept him from living up to where I think he can be.

Coming off his best season in Tuscaloosa as a third-year sophomore, Deontae Lawson is arguably Alabama’s most well-known returning starter on defense within the front seven. He’s an alpha in the middle of that unit and loves to stick his face in the fan against run support. With Caleb Downs transferring to Ohio State, the Crimson Tide need Lawson to be the new enforcer of sorts as well. He’s wearing a new number this season, which he says represents a program — and player — in transition of sorts under a different staff.

247 agrees, listing Lawson as a top candidate for SEC DPOY. Lawson taking the next step is going to be critical for Alabama this season.

Off-field issues caused Brailsford to miss most of spring practice (much to the concern of some Bama fans), but it seems as though he has now settled in in Tuscaloosa. Still, Coach Kalen DeBoer and company were wise to add some insurance in the form of Michigan State transfer Geno VanDeMark.
The late spring pickup gives Alabama another veteran and a versatile piece on the interior offensive line. VanDeMark will likely be the top backup at one or both of the guard positions. Bama returns the imposing duo of Tyler Booker and Jaeden Roberts, and getting another experienced player behind them is huge.
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VanDeMark also has experience playing center. Though his game reps at that spot have been limited, he is more experienced than any other center option outside of Brailsford. While this is a very valuable job, it’s hard to believe the senior will be content to settle for a reserve role. Expect VanDeMark to push Brailsford and the guards, ultimately making all parties involved better in the long run.

Hopefully, Brailsford is going to a breath of fresh air for Alabama fans after three straight seasons of generally poor center play. On top of having a season’s worth of good snaps under his belt, a preseason All-American, and a national championship appearance…. He’s also been rumored this offseason to be one of the strongest players in the locker room.

I’m sure everyone saw the interview clip with Jalen Milroe a couple of days ago talking about the “vibe” that coach DeBoer brings to Alabama.

Our favorite blog site of pure envy, DawgNation, saw it too, and immediately had to write an article about how Kirby Smart does none of this “giving compliments” nonsense.

Fact is, Smart hates complacency and fancies the slogan that, “if it isn’t broke, find a way to make it better,” as Dean can attest.
“It was always, you can do this better, you made this play, you got this Pick 6, but you could have gotten to the end zone faster if you took this step, or, you could have read the play faster,” Dean said.
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“Or, you got a sack, but you could have gotten a sack-fumble. So it was never pat yourself on the back.”
Time will tell if DeBoer’s approach will uplift the Tide, or perhaps derail the emotional discipline Saban’s programs most always exhibited.

Those poor guys really have no idea what to do if they aren’t constantly comparing themselves to Alabama.

In recruiting news, Alabama’s picked up another new prediction:

As June closes, Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide football coaching staff have put together an incredible month of recruiting. Over the past few weeks, Alabama has surged to the No. 2 ranked recruiting class for 2025 and still has plenty of its top targets uncommitted.
One of the most coveted targets is a four-star tight end from El Dorado Hills, California, Kaleb Edwards.
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Edwards is a 6-foot-6 235 prospect who has shown the ability to be a solid end-line blocker but also a legitimate threat in the passing game.
Steve Wiltfong of On3 recently logged an expert prediction for the talented Edwards to commit to the Crimson Tide.

A higher 4-star player and a top 5 TE in the country, Edwards would be a huge addition to the recruiting class. If he does follow what most of the recruiting experts are predicting, he’ll be yet another California native helping to fill out this recruiting class for the Tide. Edwards is expected to announce a commitment on Wednesday.

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