S7 Ep. 23: Alabama’s Embryos: Briallen Hopper on the Personal and Political Consequences of the New IVF Court Decision

fiction/non/fiction

Writer Briallen Hopper joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about in vitro fertilization and the recent Alabama State Supreme Court ruling declaring that frozen embryos have the same rights as children. Hopper speaks about the science and thought behind freezing embryos versus eggs, as well as the religious language embedded in the court’s decision. She reads an excerpt from a 2019 Washington Post essay about her choice to freeze embryos as a single person and reflects on repeating the process later, with a partner.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Briallen Hopper

• Hard to Love: Essays and Confessions
• Gilead Reread (forthcoming, Columbia University Press)
• “Single Women Looking to Extend their Fertility Usually Freeze Eggs. I Froze Embryos.”|Washington Post, May 10th, 2019

Others:

• James LePage, et al. v. The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Association | Supreme Court of Alabama
• The Human Life Protection Act | Alabama - May 15, 2019
• Tammy Duckworth | Access to Family Building Act
• Dobbs | The Supreme Court - June 24, 2022
• The Radical Freedom Of IVF by Krys Malcolm Belc, Romper

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