Today in one sentence: The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization are "children" under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act; Trump privately told advisers and allies that he supports a 16-week national abortion ban; Biden canceled an additional $1.2 billion in student loan debt for about 153,000 borrowers; and 49% of voters said they support Biden over Trump (45%) in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup.

1/ The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization are “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. The Alabama ruling permits three couples to sue for wrongful death after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. The state Supreme Court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children,’” including “extrauterine children,” and covered under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor law. “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote. The court’s ruling threatens the entire IVF industry in the state since the standard medical procedure during treatment is to extract multiple eggs from a woman, fertilize them to create embryos, transfer one embryo into the uterus in order to maximize the chances of successful implantation, and then store the remaining embryos that were genetically normal. The White House press secretary said the Alabama ruling was “exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.” Meanwhile, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system paused all IVF procedures following the court decision due to fear of criminal prosecution and lawsuits. (CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / AL.com)

2/ Trump privately told advisers and allies that he supports a 16-week national abortion ban, but wants to wait until after he secures the Republican presidential nomination to discuss his views publicly. “Know what I like about 16?” Trump reportedly told a source. “It’s even. It’s four months.” Trump, however, said he does support three exceptions: rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, called the reporting “fake news,” but declined to say what, if any, national-level abortion policy Trump does support. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press)

  • Project 2025: An influential think tank close to Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should he return to power. “Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, president of The Center for Renewing America, part of a conservative consortium preparing for Trump’s return to power.” (Politico)

3/ The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens has “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with Russian intelligence agencies. Federal prosecutors said that Alexander Smirnov admitted that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden. Smirnov was arrested and charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. Smirnov’s claims were a key part of the Republican impeachment inquiry into Biden. Democrats have called for an end to the probe after the Smirnov indictment, but Republicans have instead claimed their case “is not reliant” on the false claims and instead they would continue to “follow the facts.” Republicans, meanwhile, deleted references to the discredited FBI informant in a letter they sent to a potential witness in their impeachment inquiry. (Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / CBS News / CNN)

  • 10 Republicans who treated the Biden bribery claim like gospel: Rep. Jim Jordan, Pat Fallon, Elise Stefanik, Andrew Clyde, Tim Burchett, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Paulina Luna, and Nancy Mace. (Washington Post)

4/ Biden canceled an additional $1.2 billion in student loan debt for about 153,000 borrowers. The loan forgiveness covers borrowers who are enrolled in Biden’s loan repayment program (the Saving on a Valuable Education plan), initially borrowed $12,000 or less, and have been repaying their debt for at least 10 years. With the latest round of relief, Biden has canceled $138 billion of student debt for nearly 3.9 million borrowers since taking office. (NPR / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN)

poll/ 49% of voters said they support Biden over Trump (45%) in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup. 93% of Democrats support Biden and 91% of Republicans support Trump, while independents are divided, with 44% supporting Biden and 42% supporting Trump. (Quinnipiac)