Former President Donald Trump faced questions from female voters during a Fox News roundtable in Georgia on Wednesday, calling himself the “father of IVF” while discussing fertility treatment that was banned following an Alabama court’s ruling earlier this year came into the spotlight this year.
The Republican presidential candidate – who also calls himself a “protector” of women — has been trying to win over the critical voting bloc as he and Vice President Kamala Harris go head-to-head in a race that has largely been dominated by a gender gap.
During the event, Trump met a cordial crowd in Cumming, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta Fox News billed as centered on “women’s issues.”
The former president did several false claims through the town hall Hosted by Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, he often responded with rambling answers to questions about the economy, immigration and abortion.
About abortion and IVF
Trump has walked a fine line when it came to abortion In recent months he has often zigzagged his positions, although he currently claims that he would do so Veto a nationwide abortion ban.
During his term, Trump nominated three U.S. Supreme Court justices, all of whom voted to overturn Roe v. Repeal Wade, ending nearly half a century of the constitutional right to abortion.
When asked by an audience member why the administration was “committed to women’s basic rights,” Trump said that abortion was now “back in the states.” The conservative justices actually wrote that ending Roe v. Wade means that “the authority to regulate abortion will be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” which include Congress and the president.
Trump noted that abortion restrictions in some states are “too strict” and predicted that these measures “will be overtaken because there is already a movement in those states.”
He said he believed in “exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”
As Trump claimed leadership on IVF, he also said, “We are truly the party of IVF.” However, Republicans in Congress have blocked the advancement of in vitro fertilization legislation an attempt Senate Democrats voted in March to expand access for military members and veterans.
In September the Republicans in the Senate blocked a Democratic bill that could have prevented states from imposing “harmful or unjustified restrictions” on fertility procedures and would have increased access for military members and veterans.
But Trump insisted at the town hall that his party supports IVF. “We want fertilization and that’s all, and the Democrats have tried to attack us and we’re even more pro-IVF than they are, so we’re all for it,” he said.
Contrary to Trump’s claim that he is the “father of IVF,” it was developed in 1978 by a gynecologist and scientist, one of whom won the Nobel Prize.
Alabama verdict
The debate over IVF erupted in Alabama earlier this year after the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled issued a statement in February that frozen embryos constitute children under state law.
That ruling forced the state’s IVF clinics to suspend their operations pending the state legislature passed a bill Providing criminal and civil protection to these clinics.
Trump, a few days after the verdict, called Alabama lawmakers called for “an immediate solution” to be found, and national Republicans running for Congress also sought to distance themselves from the controversial decision in Alabama.
Replaying the timeline of events at the town hall, Trump said: “So I got a call from Katie Britt, a newborn, just incredibly attractive person from Alabama. “She’s a senator and she called me ’emergency, emergency’ because a judge in Alabama ruled that IVF clinics were illegal and needed to be closed.” Britt, a Republican and member of the U.S. Senate from Alabama, was also selected delivery the State of the Union response to President Joe Biden.
Trump continued: “And I said, ‘Explain IVF very quickly,’ and within about two minutes I understood it.” I said, “No, no, we’re all for IVF.” I did within a Hour made a statement, a really forceful statement, with some experts, really powerful. And we were completely in favor of it, the Republican Party, the entire party. (The) Alabama Legislature repealed the law a day later, meaning they approved it…the judge essentially approved it.”
Harris clapped back Trump called himself the “father of IVF” later Wednesday and said she found it “pretty bizarre.”
“And if he meant taking responsibility, then he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban,” she said.
About immigration and border security
Immigration was a key topic during the town hall, and Trump repeated several false claims on the topic, including that Harris was named “border czar.”
Although President Joe Biden tasked Harris with addressing the “root causes” of migration in Central America in 2021, he did not bestow her with the title “Border Czar.” The US Department of Homeland Security is responsible for border security.
Trump also reiterated his promise to ban all sanctuary cities, saying they were “really designed to protect criminals” and “that’s what they’ve become.” Such cities have declared their opposition to cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
“We will abolish all sanctuary cities in the United States, we will return to normality and we will have law and order… we must reinvigorate our police force,” he said.
About economy and energy
Trump also said that under his administration the US had “the greatest economy in the history of our country.”
That claim proved false when assessing factors such as the unemployment rate, annual gross domestic product boost and wage growth during his presidency compared to other administrations, per PolitiFact.
He also reiterated his plans to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits and halve energy costs if re-elected.
Harris campaign in advance
Outside Trump’s town hall on Tuesday, the Harris campaign held a press conference attended by Georgia’s Democratic senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, as well as Amber Thurman’s family members. A ProPublica investigation linked Georgia’s restrictive abortion law to Thurman’s death.
Ossoff said that in Trump you have “the architect of the nationwide campaign to overturn Roe v. To overthrow Wade and end decades-long protections of women’s health care privacy and doctors’ ability to provide necessary care – and in Vice President Harris you have a clear and leading commitment to championing the health of pregnant women and Empowering physicians to provide the care they need.”
Harris was scheduled to speak at a campaign rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. She was also scheduled to appear in a sit-down interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that will air Wednesday.
