I think the author is not trying to to make pro-life extremist views seem reasonable. They seem to be reporting on the fact that framing this particular case within the abortion debate has missed important issues, resulting in legal confusion and further deregulating an already under-regulated industry.
The pro-life agenda - imho - caused this very situation by altering the outcome of the case. The clinic may well have been negligent, but the crux of the lawsuit was that an in vitro embryo is indistinguishable from an in vivo embryo. Of course they are different. You do not have to be a scientist to understand that - it requires a pedantic failure of logic that leapfrogs common sense.