So Aaron I kind of expected that the Republicans would come for voting rights.

Yes. And you know, civil rights. Yes. And abortion rights.

Of course. But I did not think that they would try to overturn the right to get divorced?

Oh yeah, and it's not just divorce they're targeting.

So two pretty wild things happened this week.

First, the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled that frozen fertilized embryos, microscopic

bunches of undifferentiated cells, are legally people just like me or you or

Zendaya. In vitro fertilization which helps people conceive

involves retrieving and fertilizing several eggs and discarding the

resulting embryos that are either non-viable or not implanted and

carried to term.

At least one IVF clinic in Alabama, actually the largest IVF clinic in Alabama, has already shut down.

Wow.

Also this week, political reported that a think tank close to Trump is laying out a second

term agenda that would include enshrining what it calls Christian nationalism and

a big figure in crafting that agenda has defined this as among among other things, banning no-fault divorce, sex education

in schools, and surrogacy. See, Republicans do care about women.

I'm Max Fisher, and I'm Aaron Ryan and this is how we got here a new series where

Aaron and I explore a big question behind the week's headlines and tell a story

that answers that question.

Our question this week, why does this newly dominant faction of the GOP want to go to war with surrogate mothers, sex ed teachers, fertility clinics, and the concept of divorce.

So the story I want to tell to answer this is about that movement that you mentioned,

...