Haley Says ‘Embryos, to Me, Are Babies,’ in Response to Alabama Court Ruling

The former South Carolina governor has walked a fine line on reproductive medicine during the Republican presidential primary.

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Nikki Haley speaking in Greenville, S.C., on Tuesday.

Nikki Haley told NBC News on Wednesday that she believed that embryos created through in vitro fertilization were “babies,” after the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday delivered a major ruling that raised legal questions about reproductive medicine and fertility care.

“Embryos, to me, are babies,” Ms. Haley said after an NBC correspondent, Ali Vitali, asked her if she agreed with the court that “embryos created through I.V.F. are considered children.”

Pressed on whether she was specifically referring to I.V.F.-created embryos, Ms. Haley recalled that she’d had her son through artificial insemination. “One thing is to save sperm or to save eggs, but when you talk about an embryo, you are talking about — to me, that’s a life,” she said, “and so I do see where that’s coming from when they talk about that.”

But she appeared to hedge when asked about the implications of the Alabama ruling, saying that questions about whether the decision could affect people seeking I.V.F. require “incredibly personal” conversations with doctors and patients.

When pushed on the question, Ms. Haley added: “This is one where we need to be incredibly respectful and sensitive about it.”

Ms. Haley has tried to walk a fine line in her presidential campaign on issues regarding reproductive medicine, specifically abortion access. While she has said that she personally supports bans on abortion, and that she would have signed a six-week abortion ban as governor of South Carolina, she has also tried to appeal to moderate voters by casting the issue as one that requires politicians to “find consensus.”

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