Alabama
With Alabama IVF patient in attendance, Biden to highlight reproductive care in State of the Union
Latorya Beasley, 37, has long had the first week of March marked on her calendar. But it wasn’t to attend the State of the Union as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.
After months of medication cycles, she was gearing up for an embryo transfer on March 4. But the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision on Feb. 16, which determined that frozen embryos were children and threw clinics there into intense legal uncertainty, upended the course of her treatment.
So, on Thursday night, she will instead find herself watching the president address the nation from the U.S. Capitol, using his speech to highlight the stories of women who’ve lost access to reproductive healthcare in the nearly two years since Roe s. Wade was overruled and criticizing Republicans for supporting abortion restrictions.
It will be a prominent theme, said an official who reviewed the president’s speech, and Biden will specifically mention IVF access in the fallout from the Alabama court decision.
Tory Beasley, left, tells her story of her appointments being cancelled as Claire Gray listens during a panel discussion with families directly affected by the Alabama Supreme Court decision hosted by Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, on Feb. 27, 2024, in Birmingham, Ala.
Butch Dill/AP
Beasley, a Birmingham resident, has been doing fertility treatments on and off since 2019. In 2022, she successfully had a daughter through IVF, and last fall, Beasley and her husband decided to try for one more child.
They were nearly at the final stage of the process when the court ruling came down.
“I got a phone call and I don’t even know what she said,” Beasley said, describing the phone call from her provider, Alabama Fertility Treatments, advising her that her appointment was indefinitely delayed because they were pausing services, fearful of wrongful death lawsuits that could arise from handling embryos.
“Of course I was heartbroken. And then a few minutes later, the FedEx man rang the doorbell delivering [IVF] medicine. It was just like a gut punch,” Beasley said.
President Joe Biden speaks as Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, right, listen during a State of the Union address at the Capitol, Feb. 7, 2023.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
For the next two weeks, Beasley shared her story with lawmakers in her state Legislature and at the federal level, including a roundtable with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who traveled to Birmingham for a listening tour with IVF patients.
She made trips to Montgomery, the state capital, to rally with hundreds of other women pressuring lawmakers for legislation.
As legislation began to move through the State House, each political development carried medical implications for Beasley.
“It’s just one of those things that kind of is like, how does someone else get to dictate what I want for my family?” she said in an interview. “How does someone have so much control?”
Beasley and the other women and families who advocated at the State House were ultimately successful as of late Wednesday night, when state lawmakers passed a bill to give IVF clinics, patients and manufacturers “civil and criminal immunity” during IVF services, allowing enough legal cover for most of the paused clinics to reopen.
Beasley’s own clinic, Alabama Fertility Specialists, said it resumed the “full scope” of fertility services on Thursday.
“We have kept our lab fully operational so that we’d be positioned to resume care as soon as possible,” Dr. Janet Bouknight, a fertility physician at Alabama Fertility Specialists, said in an interview Wednesday.
But Bouknight, lawmakers and other patients involved in the legislative process all acknowledged that there will be more work ahead to protect IVF — something Biden is sure to highlight in his speech on Thursday at the U.S. Capital.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra greets LaTorya Beasley during a roundtable discussion with in-vitro fertilization patients and health professionals, on Feb. 27, 2024, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Biden, since the Alabama ruling came down three weeks ago, has criticized Republicans for laying the groundwork for reproductive health care restrictions by overturning the constitutional right to abortion nationwide.
“Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Biden said in a statement shortly after the Alabama Supreme Court decision. Alabama has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.
“My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state,” Biden said.
In his State of the Union address, the president is expected to call on Congress to pass a bill that would legalize abortion services nationwide, as he has for nearly two years since Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and call Republicans out for blocking a vote that would’ve implemented national protections for IVF.
Biden will look to capitalize on the confusion and outcry caused by the IVF pause in Alabama, which pushed Republicans both in the state and at the federal level to try and walk a fine line of defending the anti-abortion ruling, but also issuing support for IVF and family building.
While Biden and his administration have repeatedly said they don’t believe they have many presidential avenues to safeguard reproductive healthcare without Congressional support — including shoring up protections for IVF nationwide — Biden is expected to mention their efforts so far in his speech, including a court battle to defend medication abortion and executive actions to protect travel for reproductive care services.
No. 1 Alabama’s 2026 season is rolling into Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series after the Crimson Tide won its first two games of the weekend against No. 16 LSU in the super regional round at Rhoads Stadium.
It was more dominance from the Tide pitching staff as Jocelyn Briski pitched a complete-game shutout on Friday in the 7-0 win, and Briski earned the save in Game 2 after freshman Vic Moten allowed only run over four innings in her first super regional start for the 4-1 victory.
Alabama got offensive contributions from different parts of the lineup with Alexis Pupillo having the best weekend with four hits, including two home runs.
Next up for the Crimson Tide (54-7), is a date with No. 8 UCLA (52-8) this Thursday on the opening day of the Women’s College World Series. But before then, here are three of my biggest takeaways from Alabama’s performance in super regionals:
Alabama has the pitching to win a national title
Eight teams across the country punched their tickets to Oklahoma City over the weekend. Some, like Alabama and Tennessee, are expected to be there. Some, like Mississippi State, will be making their first appearance at the WCWS. And some familiar faces, like Oklahoma and Florida, will not be in OKC starting Thursday.
Oklahoma and Florida have a combined 35 WCWS appearances and 10 national titles. Either the Sooners or the Gators have won eight of the last 11 national titles dating back to 2014. Neither team had the pitching to get out of Supers. Oklahoma gave up 18 runs across three games to Mississippi State. Florida allowed 28 runs over the three games against Texas Tech. Alabama has allowed one run over five total games played in the NCAA tournament.
The competition was elevated this weekend as Alabama played an SEC foe in LSU compared to the mid-major schools during the regional round, and the Tide’s top-two pitchers still made it extremely difficult on opposing batters.
Briski and Moten continued to limit free passes with just two total walks compared to 23 strikeouts over the two wins. Briski was even dealing with a little sickness on Friday and appeared to shut down the Tigers with ease.
Anything can happen in Oklahoma City, and Alabama will be tested off the bat against a UCLA offense that leads the nation in home runs with 196. But the Tide should have the arms to keep it in any game and make a deep run at the WCWS.
Weather-tested before OKC
Alabama and LSU had to sit through two separate weather delays on Saturday that lasted about four hours total. As Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy pointed out multiple times throughout the weekend, these players are used to dealing with weather delays from all the years they’ve spent growing up playing travel softball.
But just because they are used to it doesn’t mean that a weather delay is ideal. When your team has all the momentum, any sort of break literally stops that momentum. Alabama was rolling before the first weather delay and had just taken a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning.
The offense did not score again (credit to LSU pitcher Jayden Heavener), but the team still came out of both breaks with the energy needed to close out the game.
Weather delays in Oklahoma City at the WCWS are almost an inevitability. I mean, the city’s lone major professional sports franchise is literally named the Thunder. Several super regionals around the country were affected by weather this weekend, so it won’t just be Alabama that is prepared, but coming fresh off two long delays gives the Crimson Tide that recent experience in case it arises in OKC.
Offense steps up without Wells at her best
Sophomore transfer Brooke Wells has been the engine that powers the Alabama offense this year. For most of the year, she has led the team in batting average, home runs and RBIs. She still leads the team in HRs (23) and RBIs (65.) During super regionals against LSU, Wells went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.
Alabama still managed to put up 11 total runs across the two games against a solid LSU pitching staff without its best hitter reaching base. Alexis Pupillo brought the power with a home run in each game, and Jena Young had two hits out of the leadoff spot in Game 1, including a bases-clearing double.
The bottom of the lineup came through as well with Salen Hawkins collecting a hit in each game out of the eight-spot. Her two-out, two-RBI single in the fourth inning of Game 2 provided the cushion Alabama needed to put away the Tigers
Wells is used to playing in big games and stepping up to the plate in big moments for the Crimson Tide at times this season, but this is her first trip to the NCAA tournament. Alabama can win without her reaching base–– the Tide proved it this weekend. But in order for Alabama to make a deep run in OKC and have a good chance of winning its first national title since 2012, it likely will need more production from the slugger.
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The Alabama baseball program has been selected by the NCAA as one of the 16 host sites for next weekend’s NCAA baseball regional. The Crimson Tide were chosen after finishing fourth in the SEC and amassing a 37-19 record with four sweeps in conference play.
The seeding is set to be announced on Monday at 11 a.m. CT, where Alabama will find out if it is chosen as a top-eight seed and will find out what opponents are coming to Tuscaloosa next weekend. A top-eight seed puts the Crimson Tide program in position to host the Super Regional round the following weekend.
“This team’s won six SEC weekends,” Alabama head coach Rob Vaugh said. “We’ve swept four of them I believe. We’ve won 18 games. And this team’s just battle-tested. Like, last year’s group, we didn’t get swept last year, which was great. It’s cool. But at the end of the day, we also didn’t do some of the special things that we’ve done this year.
“I think this group is just, they’re confident and I think they believe in each other. And I think obviously the three dudes on the front have been good. Obviously, you miss a guy like Riley Quick from last year, that guy was pretty special. But all those guys have gotten better. Tyler Fay’s a better version of himself right now than he was last year.
“Zane Adams is a better version of himself. Myles Upchurch is a young phenom that’s emerged as a young superstar for us. I think when you can run three starters out like that, that gives you a chance against anybody. And they give you a shot.”
Alabama is 0-4 in the last two seasons in the regional round, losing games as a two-seed in the Hattiesburg Regional and the Tallahassee Regional. The Crimson Tide last hosted an NCAA Regional in 2023, winning three games in a row to advance to the Winston-Salem Super Regional. The program looks to return to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time since 1999.
NCAA Baseball Regional Sites (Alphabetically by Location)
|
Host |
Location |
Conference |
Record |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Georgia |
Athens, Ga. |
SEC |
45-12 |
|
Georgia Tech |
Atlanta |
ACC |
48-9 |
|
Auburn |
Auburn, Ala. |
SEC |
38-19 |
|
Texas |
Austin, Texas |
SEC |
40-13 |
|
North Carolina |
Chapel Hill, N.C. |
ACC |
45-11-1 |
|
Texas A&M |
College Station, Texas |
SEC |
39-14 |
|
Oregon |
Eugene, Ore. |
BIG 10 |
40-16 |
|
Florida |
Gainesville, Fla. |
SEC |
39-19 |
|
Southern Miss |
Hattiesburg, Miss. |
Sun Belt |
43-15 |
|
Kansas |
Lawrence, Kan. |
BIG 12 |
42-16 |
|
Nebraska |
Lincoln, Neb. |
BIG 10 |
42-14 |
|
UCLA |
Los Angeles |
BIG 10 |
51-6 |
|
West Virginia |
Morgantown, Wva. |
BIG 12 |
39-14 |
|
Mississippi State |
Starkville, Miss. |
SEC |
40-17 |
|
Florida State |
Tallahassee, Fla. |
ACC |
38-17 |
|
Alabama |
Tuscaloosa, Ala. |
SEC |
37-19 |
This story will be updated with game dates and times once the NCAA bracket is fully revealed on Monday morning.
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