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The recent ruling in Alabama that frozen embryos are legally considered children created a political firestorm after the decision halted treatment for many couples seeking to have families through fertility treatments. It also has turned the spotlight on the importance of institutions that are poised to play a central in this year’s elections: state supreme courts. Decisions by states’ highest courts have become especially critical in the nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion. This year, campaigns for state supreme court seats are expected to be among the most expensive and bitterly contested races on the ballot. At stake are future decisions over abortion, other reproductive rights, gerrymandering, voting rights and other crucial issues. (Fernando, 3/1)

Across red-state America, conservative Christian women have become outspoken, even angry advocates. They’ve decried the Alabama ruling on their social media pages, galvanized to defend both their values and in vitro fertilization. Their comments have often appeared amid photos of the babies that IVF made possible. (Hennessy-Fiske, 3/1)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating a memo, first shared with USA TODAY, attacking vulnerable House Republicans for being “all talk, no action” on IVF and promising “to make House Republicans’ blatant disrespect for women and families a defining campaign issue.” The memo takes aim at a pair of resolutions House GOP lawmakers introduced last week expressing support for continued access to IVF and new protections for the procedure. The resolutions, considered non-binding, have no impact on federal law. (Tran, 3/4)

A 1986 Louisiana law has led IVF clinics to ship patients’ embryos out of state for decades, which some say makes an already taxing medical process more difficult. (Kaur, 3/3)