Former President Trump is seeking to steer the debate over fertility treatments by promising that his administration will fund in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, a costly proposition that goes beyond even most Democrats’ positions on the issue.
Trump told NBC News this week: “Under the Trump administration, we will pay for this treatment.”
“So we will pay for this treatment or we will force the insurance companies to pay,” he added.
Although Republicans have not directly opposed access to IVF, Democrats say Trump and his party have opened the door to a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court in February that said frozen embryos could be considered children and therefore their disposal could be a criminal offense. The ruling IVF services temporarily suspended for many patients in Alabama.
Many Republican lawmakers believe frozen embryos should be considered children, calling into question their stated support for fertility treatments such as IVF, which often require the disposal of unused embryos.
The Harris-Walz campaign has sharply criticized the IVF story, specifically attacking Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), for past comments that were seen as insensitive toward people with infertility issues. Harris-Walz campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika accused Trump of being disingenuous in his comments to NBC.
“Donald Trump’s own program could effectively ban IVF and abortion across the country. Trump lies as much, if not more, than he says, but voters are not stupid,” Chitika said.
“Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already in jeopardy and women’s freedoms have been curtailed in states across the country. There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own decisions about our health care: Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), Recently criticized for some earlier statements which suggested that he and his wife had used IVF to conceive their two children, when in fact they had used a different treatment method called IUI, which does not require fertilisation of eggs outside the body.
But that didn’t stop Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, from using their personal experiences with infertility to continue attacking, telling Republicans to “mind their own damn business.”
Gwen Walz criticizes Trump for his IVF promise during her first solo campaign Event in Virginia on Friday.
“So those are the facts, and there is no alternative to that,” she said. “Donald Trump is the one who overturned Roe and jeopardized access to IVF. That’s a fact. And he’s running with a program that jeopardizes these treatments nationwide, and that’s a fact.”
“But he knows that this position is extremely unpopular, and you know what? That’s a fact,” she added.
However, Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton said the Trump campaign’s IVF strategy was effective.
“This positions the GOP not only as pro-life, but also as pro-family and pro-helping Americans raise families,” Singleton told The Hill. “Nothing is more pro-life than the desire to help people who are struggling to bring life into the world.”
Singleton said it “weakens” Democrats’ ability to “claim that Republicans are against IVF and want to control people’s ability to have children.”
Republican strategist Matt Gorman, who has covered three presidential campaigns, compared the situation to 2014, when Republican Senate candidates endorsed over-the-counter contraception.
“This is a solid detour and a way to deflect some of the attacks,” Gorman said, adding that the goal is not to beat the Democrats but to “stabilize and weaken some of the independent defectors.”
However, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio, who does not support Trump, said the campaign was “lost” on the issue.
“I don’t think he knows what he’s really proposing. He’s shooting from the hip. He knows the issue of reproductive rights is huge, so he’s doing everything he can to seem a little less draconian,” she said.
“He’s losing moderate women in droves,” Del Percio said.
“He has no message, and not only that, he has no message, he has no footing,” she added. “For me it is shocking that he does not return to immigration. He is buying time to find something because he has nothing new.”
Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma) told reporters that he agreed with Trump’s goal of “making sure we can bring more babies into the world,” but the question remains “how that will be paid for.”
“I haven’t spoken to him the whole time,” Mullin said.
According to the Telemedicine platform GoodRxA single IVF cycle can cost between $15,000 and $30,000 when medications and tests are included. Most couples go through more than one cycle before experiencing a successful live birth.
Trump’s support for broader access to IVF treatments could potentially bring him into conflict with hard-line anti-abortion activists.
IVF often involves creating multiple embryos to raise the chances of a successful pregnancy. In many cases, unused frozen embryos are discarded, donated for scientific research, or donated to couples who are unable to produce viable embryos.
While conservatives try to confuse frozen embryos with children, GOP lawmakers have stumbled in an attempt to limit access to IVF with their belief that life begins at conception.
The Trump-backing anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America told The Hill that the former president’s support for IVF does not conflict with its own stance, but it remains opposed to the disposal of embryos.
“SBA Pro-Life America has no objection to fertility treatments that help couples with infertility issues in an ethical manner and in compliance with strict medical safety standards. We believe that human embryos should not be destroyed,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
“Too often, proposals on this issue go too far by granting blanket immunity to IVF clinics – even to doctors like us who exchange human embryos, fail to meet basic safety standards, or negligently destroy human embryos desired by infertile couples. These are real scenarios that families in America have no recourse against.”
Fertility specialists sharply criticized the Alabama ruling earlier this year, saying that embryo disposal is a standard part of IVF and preventing it could make the procedure too ethically and legally complicated.
Trump did not comment on the disposal of frozen embryos in his interview with NBC. The Hill has reached out to the Trump-Vance campaign team for comment on how unused frozen embryos will be handled and how much Trump’s proposal will cost.
