Alabama

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

Published

1 year 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

IU football game 14: Early facts, odds, projections, details vs. Alabama

Published

4 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

IU football game 14: Early facts, odds, projections, details vs. Alabama

Three wins to a national title.

Every game from here out is the biggest in IU football history.

In a national quarterfinal matchup, the No. 1 Hoosiers (13-0) will face No. 9 Alabama (11-3) on Thursday, Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. (ESPN). The game marks the first ever meeting of these programs.

Indiana and Alabama could not have more different histories.

Alabama claims 18 national titles and 30 conference championships, while IU has never won a national title and can claim just three league titles. Alabama has the third-most wins in college football history, while the Hoosiers have the second-most losses.

But while the game is a historical mismatch, Indiana will take the field as the favorite.

Most sports books have IU as a 6.5 to 7-point favorite over the Crimson Tide in The Rose Bowl.

In the analytical models, ESPN’s Football Power Index gives No. 1 Indiana a 71.4% chance to beat No. 8 Alabama. ESPN’s SP+ likes No. 2 Indiana over No. 15 Alabama by 13.1 points.

Alabama played five games against teams currently ranked in the CFP Top-25: Two games against Georgia and Oklahoma, and a game against Vanderbilt. The Tide went 3-2 in those games.

FPI says Alabama played the sixth-hardest schedule this season, while IU played the 28th most difficult. Meanwhile IU has the No. 1 strength of record, and Alabama No. 10.

The lone common opponent for Indiana and Alabama is Wisconsin, a team both the Hoosiers and Crimson Tide beat on their respective home fields by 24 points.

Alabama is led by head coach Kalen DeBoer, who is in his second season in charge in Tuscaloosa. DeBoer is 20-7 in his two seasons at Alabama, and 124-19 overall as a head coach. He and former IU quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. led Washington to the national championship game in 2023.

DeBoer is one of several members of the Alabama coaching staff who were once coaches at Indiana.

DeBoer was the IU offensive coordinator in 2019. Crimson Tide quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan was at IU from 2017-2021 and was offensive coordinator the last two years. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was at IU from 2018-2020 and defensive coordinator the last two years. Defensive backs coach Jason Jones was the IU safeties coach from 2020-2022. And strength coach David Ballou is an IU alumnus and was the IU strength coach from 2018-2020.

Alabama is No. 39 nationally in scoring offense, putting up 31.4 points per contest. Indiana is the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense at 10.8 points allowed per game.

The Crimson Tide are No. 13 in scoring defense, allowing just 17.9 an outing. IU is No. 4 in scoring offense at 41.9 points per contest. The most points scored by any team against Alabama this season was 31 by Florida State in a season-opening loss.

6-foot-2 junior quarterback Ty Simpson has completed 64.1 % of his throws for 3,500 yards, with 28 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Including sacks, he has rushed for just 76 yards and two touchdowns this season.

PFF grades Alabama as having the No. 31 offense, the No. 14 defense, and the No. 22 special teams in the country.

The weather shouldn’t be a factor in this game. Rain is rare in Southern California this time of year, and the temperature should be pleasant. The current long-term forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and a high of 67 degrees. We’ll check back on this as the game gets closer.

We will of course have much more on this game in the days to come.

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Alabama

January 1 Indiana vs. Alabama Rose Bowl tickets, game time, TV channel

Published

16 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

January 1 Indiana vs. Alabama Rose Bowl tickets, game time, TV channel

In the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (13-0) will play the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-3) in the Rose Bowl, starting at 4 p.m. ET in Pasadena, California. Indiana is favored by 7 points.

Learn how to get tickets to the Hoosiers vs. Crimson Tide matchup.

Shop Alabama football tickets at StubHub

Indiana vs. Alabama tickets for sale

Indiana vs. Alabama location, livestream, TV channel

When: Thursday, January 1, 2026 at 4 p.m. ET
Location: Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California
TV: ESPN
Live stream: Watch LIVE with Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)

Indiana leaders

Fernando Mendoza has 2,980 yards through the air (229.2 per game) and a 71.5% completion percentage (226-for-316), pitching 33 touchdown passes and six interceptions. He also has 240 rushing yards on 69 carries (with six touchdowns).
Roman Hemby has run for a team-high 918 yards (70.6 per game) and tallied six touchdowns.
So far this season Kaelon Black has rushed for 798 yards (61.4 per game), with seven touchdowns.
Omar Cooper Jr. has grabbed 59 passes for a team-high 828 yards plus 11 touchdowns. He averages 63.7 receiving yards per game.
Elijah Sarratt has been targeted 73 times and added 663 yards (on 50 catches) plus 12 touchdowns.
Charlie Becker has caught 26 passes on 35 targets for 515 yards and two touchdowns.

Indiana schedule and tickets

Indiana vs. Wisconsin

Date: 11/15/2025
Score: W 31-7
Home/Away: Home
Tickets: StubHub

Indiana vs. Purdue

Date: 11/28/2025
Score: W 56-3
Home/Away: Away
Tickets: StubHub

Indiana vs. Ohio State

Date: 12/6/2025
Score: W 13-10
Home/Away: Away
Tickets: StubHub

Next game: Indiana vs. Alabama

Date: 1/1/2026
Home/Away: Home
Spread: -7
Tickets: StubHub

Shop Indiana football tickets at StubHub

Alabama leaders

Ty Simpson has thrown for 3,500 yards while completing 64.1% of his passes, with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions (250.0 yards per game).
Jamarion Miller has run for a team-high 504 yards on 130 attempts (50.4 yards per game) and three touchdowns.
Daniel Hill has 271 yards on 70 carries (24.6 yards per game), with six rushing touchdowns. He also has 21 catches for 198 yards and one touchdown.
Germie Bernard has racked up 60 catches for 802 yards, best on his team, and seven touchdowns. He averages 61.7 receiving yards per game.
Ryan Williams has chipped in with 43 catches for 636 yards and four touchdowns this year. He has been targeted 70 times, and averages 53.0 receiving yards.
Isaiah Horton has caught 40 passes on 58 targets for 495 yards and eight touchdowns.

Alabama schedule and tickets

Alabama vs. Auburn

Date: 11/29/2025
Score: W 27-20
Home/Away: Away
Tickets: StubHub

Alabama vs. Georgia

Date: 12/6/2025
Score: L 28-7
Home/Away: Home
Tickets: StubHub

Alabama vs. Oklahoma

Date: 12/19/2025
Score: W 34-24
Home/Away: Away
Tickets: StubHub

Next game: Alabama vs. Indiana

Date: 1/1/2026
Home/Away: Away
Spread: -7
Tickets: StubHub

Shop Alabama football tickets at StubHub

Watch college football on Fubo!

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LOOK: Alabama football celebrates comeback win over Oklahoma in CFP

Published

1 day ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

LOOK: Alabama football celebrates comeback win over Oklahoma in CFP

The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.

One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.

Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.

Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.

Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.

After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.