CBS News
An Alabama woman diagnosed with cervical cancer was using a surrogate to have a third child. Now, the process is on hold.
Nurse and cancer survivor Sarah Houston of Birmingham, Alabama, has found her dreams of growing her family through in vitro fertilization on indefinite hold due to a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision. The ruling, which assigns frozen embryos the same rights as children, has led to a sudden stop in IVF procedures at three of the state’s leading clinics.
Houston’s journey to motherhood took a turn following the 35-year-old’s cervical cancer diagnosis, which required a hysterectomy, removal of her uterus and cervix and other tissues, seemingly crushing her hopes of having a third child.
Despite these challenges, the discovery that her ovaries were unaffected led Houston and her husband to explore the IVF process. The couple found a surrogate to carry their child, with the embryo transfer scheduled for March 21.
However, their plans were abruptly derailed by a call from her doctor, who informed her that the procedure was paused due to the recent legal ruling.
“I asked her if it was even an option to move our embryos out of state while we figured things out, and she said that they had been advised not to touch embryos at all,” said Houston.
She said the news hit her “very hard.” As someone who navigated the harrowing journey of cancer treatment, Houston said she found herself facing a different kind of uncertainty.
“I think that’s probably the biggest difference,” Houston said. “As far as the pain you feel with the cancer diagnosis versus this is, you don’t know when it’s gonna end.”
The decision has raised widespread concerns over potential liabilities for clinics and doctors performing IVF procedures. According to Mary Ziegler, a law professor and reproductive historian at UC Davis, the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court introduces a real fear of criminal charges in the future, treating embryos as persons under wrongful death law.
“I think it’s a fair reading of this ruling that if the justices view embryos in the way this ruling describes that they would be interested in potentially weighing in on criminal liability down the road,” said Ziegler.
A bill was recently introduced in Alabama’s state Senate aiming to provide immunity to doctors involved in IVF procedures. Meanwhile, the immediate future remains uncertain for IVF patients.
Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has expressed support for efforts to allow IVF to continue in Alabama. Additionally, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra met with patients in Birmingham, calling the shutdown a ripple effect of the repeal of a federal right to an abortion.
CBS News
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
A firebrand conservative who became one of Pope Francis’ most ardent critics has been excommunicated by the Vatican.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., was found guilty of schism. The Vatican’s doctrine office imposed the penalty after a meeting of its members on Thursday, a press statement said Friday.
The office cited Viganò’s “refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the church subject to him and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council,” as its reasoning for the ruling.
Viganò, who retired in 2016 at age 75 and was the papal envoy in Washington from 2011-2026, convulsed the Holy See with accusations of sex abuse in 2018, calling on Francis to resign.
Patrick Semansky/AP
In an 11-page letter, Viganò claimed that in 2013 he told Francis of the allegations of sex abuse against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. But, he wrote, the pontiff ignored that, and allowed McCarrick to continue to serve the church for another five years publicly. He said the pope should resign and subsequently branded him a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan.”
In the letter, Viganò also made a number of ideological claims and was critical of homosexuals within Church ranks. He did not offer any proof for his statements.
The Vatican rejected the accusation of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned Viganò to answer charges of schism and denying the pope’s legitimacy.
Viganò, who regarded the accusations “as an honor,” said he refused to take part in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions behind it.
“I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him,” he said in a statement issued last week, referring to the head of the doctrinal office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and to Francis.
Viganò restated his rejection of Vatican Council II, calling it “the ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer of which the (Francis’) ‘synod church’ is the necessary metastasis.”
He had not yet commented on the Vatican’s ruling on Friday.
McCarrick, the ex-archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after an internal Vatican investigation found he sexually molested adults as well as children.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
The U.S. jobs market cooled in June but remains solid, raising the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by year-end.
The economy added 206,00 jobs last month, in line with analyst forecasts, and unemployment edged up to 4.1%. The data follows a surprisingly strong 272,000 increase in May.
A modest slowdown in hiring and wage growth could increase the Fed’s confidence that inflation is trending closer to its 2% annual target, opening the door for policymakers to trim borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
—This is a developing story.
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
Israel says it’s restarting stalled negotiations for a cease-fire deal in Gaza
Hiring in the U.S. slowed in June, raising hopes for interest rate cuts
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
Israel says it’s restarting stalled negotiations for a cease-fire deal in Gaza