Former President Donald Trump announced on Thursday his intention to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) more accessible for Americans by providing funding and requiring insurance companies to cover the treatment. Speaking to NBC News prior to a campaign rally in Potterville, Michigan, Trump stated, “Under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” adding that the coverage will extend to “all Americans who need it.”
He emphasized his long-standing support for IVF, highlighting its role in helping families and aiding women who face challenges in conceiving. “It’s fertilization and it’s helping women and men and families,” he said. “A lot of them have been very happy with the results [of IVF].”
Trump expressed his commitment to increasing the availability of IVF, stating, “We just think it’s great, and we need great children, beautiful children, in our country.”
This pledge comes in the wake of a political controversy regarding IVF, particularly after a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling designated fertilized eggs as children under state law, thereby placing them under wrongful death statutes if destroyed. Following this ruling, IVF clinics in Alabama temporarily ceased operations until the state legislature enacted laws to protect IVF physicians from litigation related to embryos.
In response to Trump’s commitment, the Harris-Walz campaign criticized him for contributing to the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, asserting that this has increased scrutiny on IVF nationwide. Campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika remarked, “Donald Trump’s own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide.”
Democrats have made reproductive rights, encompassing IVF and abortion, central to their election strategy. Earlier this year, Senate Democratic leaders sought to establish IVF as a federally protected right, but the initiative was blocked by Republican lawmakers.
During the same interview, Trump, who appointed three of the five justices responsible for the Roe v. Wade ruling, took responsibility for their decision, stating, “Our country has been torn apart by Roe v. Wade for years.” He noted that the ruling restored the power to set abortion laws to individual states, remarking, “If you go back 10 years, 15 years, all they wanted to do is they wanted it back in the states.”