Former President Donald Trump says that, if he wins a second term, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women, but did not detail how he would fund his plan or precisely how it would work. That prompted a rebuke from Gwen Walz, wife of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, on the campaign trail. The controversy over IVF may be traced back to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling back in February that frozen embryos “are children.”
Trump told his audience in Michigan, "I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment," he said at an event in Michigan. "Because we want more babies, to put it nicely."
Democratic Vice President candidate Tim Walz and his wife had children through fertility treatments known as intrauterine insemination, or IUI. On the campaign trail in Virginia, Gwen Walz criticized Trump’s comments on NBC-TV.
“Donald Trump is the one who took down roe and put access to IVF at risk. That's a fact, and he's running on a platform that puts these treatments at risk nationwide, and that's a fact,” she said.
Trump first came out in favor of IVF in February after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, briefly pausing treatment and sparking national backlash.
IVF treatments are notoriously expensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single round. Many women require multiple rounds and there is no guarantee of success. The announcement comes as Trump has been under intense criticism from Democrats for his role in appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion in the country. The decision has led to a wave of restrictions across Republican-led states, including proposals that have threatened access to IVF by trying to define life as beginning at conception. IVF relies on the creation of multiple embryos, some of which may be destroyed.
Abortion is expected to be a major motivator for Democrats and women this November, and was a dominant theme of the party's national convention last week, including Vice President Kamala Harris' speech as she accepted her party's nomination.
In response, Trump has been trying to present himself as more moderate on the issue, going as far as to declare himself "very strong on women's reproductive rights."
In an interview with NBC ahead of the event, Trump also suggested that he would vote in favor of repealing Florida's six-week abortion ban, which limits the procedure before many women even know they are pregnant.
Trump, in the interview, did not explicitly say how he plans to vote on the ballot measure this fall. But he repeated his past criticism that the measure, signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, is too restrictive.
"I think the six weeks is too short. It has to be more time," he said. "I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks."
Trump had previously called DeSantis' decision to sign the bill a "terrible mistake."
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement after the rally Thursday that Trump "has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida" known as Amendment 4 and that he "simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short."
His comments nonetheless drew immediate reaction from those who oppose abortion rights, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who said she had spoken with Trump after his speech.
"He has not committed to how he will vote on Amendment 4. President Trump has consistently opposed abortions after five months of pregnancy. Amendment 4 would allow abortion past this point. Voting for Amendment 4 completely undermines his position," she said, adding that, "anyone who believes in drawing a different line" still "must vote against Amendment 4, unless they don't want a line at all."
In his speech, Trump also said that, if he wins, families will be able to deduct expenses for caring for newborns from their taxes.
"We're pro-family," he said.
Trump has held multiple conflicting positions on abortion over the years. After briefly considering backing a potential 15-week ban on the procedure nationwide, he announced in April that regulating abortion should be left to the states.
In the months since, he has repeatedly taken credit for his role in overturning Roe and called it "a beautiful thing to watch" as states set their own restrictions.
Trump, however, has also said he does not support a national abortion ban, and over the weekend, his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said he would veto such legislation if it landed on his desk.
"Donald Trump's view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don't want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue," Vance said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Trump first came out in favor of IVF in February after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, briefly pausing treatment and sparking national backlash.
Trump has since claimed the Republican party is a "leader" on the issue, even as at least 23 bills aiming to establish fetal personhood have been introduced in 13 states so far this legislative session, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. That kind of legislation, which asserts that life begins at conception, could imperil fertility treatments that involve the storage, transportation and destruction of embryos.
Senate Republicans in June blocked legislation that would have made it a right nationwide for women to access IVF and other reproductive technology, and also would have made treatments more accessible by requiring employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments.
IVF can costs tens of thousands of dollars for medical appointments, medication and surgery, and is not covered by many health insurance plans.
Trump has in general been opposed to various kinds of federal mandates, and originally ran against the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — which included popular provisions like protections for people with preexisting health conditions.
In a statement, Harris' campaign said Trump shouldn't be believed.
"Trump lies as much if not more than he breathes, but voters aren't stupid," said Harris-Walz 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika. "Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women's freedoms have been ripped away 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 health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris."
Jessica Mackler, the president of EMILYs List, which works to elect women who support abortion rights, called Trump's proposal "disingenuous and unserious."
"He knows how unpopular the GOP's attacks on fertility treatments are, and his comments are a desperate ploy to distract from the fact that he and his party have gutted reproductive freedom," added Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju.
Trump made the IVF announcement during a campaign swing to Michigan and Wisconsin, states he is intensely focused on recapturing after he won them in 2016 but narrowly lost both states in 2020.
Trump's first stop was Alro Steel in Potterville, Michigan, near the state capital of Lansing, where he railed against the Biden administration over inflation.
"Kamala has made middle class life unaffordable and unlivable and I'm going to make America affordable again," he charged.
Later, Trump traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a town hall moderated by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who endorsed the GOP nominee earlier this week.
Gabbard opened the town hall by talking about her own IVF journey, giving herself injections in airport bathrooms and the heartbreak of failed embryo transfers. While the treatments ultimately didn't work for her, she applauded Trump's proposal.
"I can't tell you how life-changing that would be for so many families," she said.
It was his first visit to the state since the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which ended just days before Biden dropped out of the race and began after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which Trump will visit again Friday, are part of the so-called "blue wall" bloc of northern industrial states that Democrats carried for two decades before Trump won them in 2016.
