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Republican and tramp rival Nikki Haley: "For me, embryos are babies"

Photo: Julia Nikhinson / AFP

Former US President Donald Trump's challenger in the race for the US Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, supports the recognition of embryos conceived in test tubes and frozen as babies.

She spoke out in favor of a controversial ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court.

"To me, embryos are babies," Haley said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday.

"When you talk about an embryo, for me that means life." Trump has not yet commented publicly on the verdict.

A representative from his campaign office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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The Supreme Court of the US state of Alabama, which has one of the strictest abortion laws in the country, had ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children.

The verdict was greeted with great consternation.

Patients who have had eggs removed, fertilized and frozen for treatment are unsure whether they will be allowed to continue with the in vitro fertilization process they have started - or whether they will have to store their embryos outside the state in the future.

"This decision is outrageous - and it takes away women's freedom to decide when and how they want to start a family," wrote Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday on the short message service X.

The ruling is related to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision, which upheld its landmark Roe v.

Wade repealed the 1973 law that enshrined women's constitutional right to abortion.

The Republican candidates largely stayed away from the abortion issue in this election campaign.

The party's disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections came as voters' reaction to the overturning of the Roe v.

Wade scored.

mfh/Reuters