Contrary to the views of many in his own party, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to expand access to in vitro fertilization by making private health insurance or the government foot the bill for the procedures.
But the former president’s unexpected declaration on Thursday shows that he has come to terms with the fact that the Republican Party’s views on reproductive rights and abortion could be major disadvantages for his prospects of running for president again. Trump has wasted no time in attempting to shift the focus away from those issues in light of Vice President Kamala Harris’s entry into the presidential campaign.
Trump has been pushing the concept that Republicans are a “leader” on in vitro fertilization (IVF) even before he proposed coverage for the procedure. Democrats disagree and have used the widespread but costly fertility therapy as an example of how Republicans and a Trump administration two pose a threat to reproductive rights.
Political partisans aren’t the only ones.
Katie Watson, a medical ethics professor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, stated, “Republicans are not leaders on IVF.” Their internal conflicts and contradictions make it difficult for them to be both anti-abortion and pro-IVF; some of them have even threatened IVF. The Republicans seem to be rushing to fix the political damage that their own decisions caused.
The idea put out by Trump, which he made public without offering any specifics, exemplifies the growing importance of reproductive rights in the current presidential campaign. Even though he has boasted about nominating the three Supreme Court judges who helped abolish the constitutional right to abortion, the former president is trying to seem moderate on the topic, and this is just the latest example of it.
While Republicans have tried to project an image of being open to IVF, many Republicans have found themselves torn between their party’s legislation that recognizes fetuses and embryos killed during the procedure as having inherent personhood and their support for the procedure.
Opposition to legislative initiatives to safeguard IVF access, state lawmakers, Republican-dominated courts, and anti-abortion party leaders have all worked to undermine the messaging efforts.
The Republican Party’s platform, which was approved in July in advance of the Republican National Convention, endorses the idea that the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law to all Americans, should be used by states to recognize fetal personhood. Along with advocating fetal personhood legislation that would outlaw the practice, the platform urges support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) without detailing the party’s intentions to implement this policy.
The platform committee of the Texas Republican Party narrowly rejected a plan in May to recognize IVF embryos as “human beings” and to label their killing as “homicide.” Meanwhile, on Thursday, a measure to increase access to in vitro fertilization passed easily in California, even though almost all Republican legislators were against it.
Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth criticized Republicans for campaigning on a platform of support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) but failing to support the therapy in practice. Duckworth described her personal experience with IVF on the Senate floor and helped draft a bill to preserve the technique.
She went on to say that Trump’s Supreme Court appointees “paved the way” for Roe v. Wade’s demise and its effects on reproductive rights, including IVF access.
She told the AP that Republicans openly stating their support for in vitro fertilization is ridiculous.
Following the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court’s February ruling that granted frozen embryos the legal rights of children, the matter exploded onto the national political scene. Patients in Alabama who were trying to start a family were devastated when clinics there stopped providing in vitro fertilization treatments due to that decision. In response to widespread outrage, the Republican governor of Alabama swiftly approved a bill protecting IVF practitioners from legal action.
In the weeks following the Alabama verdict, Republicans in Congress rushed to resolve the issue of in vitro fertilization. Despite past votes in favor of fetal personhood statutes and the argument that life begins at conception—the same idea that upheld the Alabama decision—many hurried to craft a cohesive message of support.
Democratic senator and Right to IVF bill co-sponsor Patty Murray told The Associated Press, “The reality is you cannot protect IVF and champion fetal personhood — they are fundamentally incompatible.” She went on to say that the American people will not be duped by Trump’s claims.
States that outlaw the operation would no longer be eligible to receive Medicaid assistance, according to a bill presented this year by Republican Senators Katie Britt and Ted Cruz. However, that was after Republicans in the Senate had already blocked a bill that would have established IVF as a constitutional right. With the exception of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Maine Senator Susan Collins, every Republican senator voted against the bill.
According to Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, “It’s not easy for a Republican lawmaker to say they’re for IVF and actually mean it in a straightforward, tangible way without angering a lot of constituents.”
More than half of Republicans and over 60% of American adults agree that access to in vitro fertilization should be protected, with only approximately 10% disagreeing, according to a June AP-NORC poll. However, there are a number of lawmakers and anti-abortion organizations that are against the therapy. This includes a number of members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus who have voiced their opposition to veterans’ access to in vitro fertilization.
Guttmacher Institute, an organization that advocates for abortion rights, reports that thirteen states have introduced a total of twenty-three proposals this legislative session that seek to recognize fetal personhood.
All of these bills put up by Republicans would ban fertility treatments that include the transportation, storage, and eventual destruction of embryos because they are founded on the premise that life begins at fertilization.
But a number of Republican legislators have spoken out in favor of in vitro fertilization. Republican senator from Wisconsin Ron Johnson has made this an issue close to his heart after discussing his daughter’s IVF journey. Johnson has stated his entire support for in vitro fertilization, but he is still not convinced by Trump’s plan because of the potential cost. Similar worries were voiced by other Republican members who spoke out following Trump’s statement.
“Before making any decisions or commitments to support any proposal,” Johnson stated, asking for details such as cost estimates and potential effects on insurance prices.
Republican lawmakers are unlikely to back such programs, including those for in vitro fertilization, because they have a long history of opposing federal financing to cover health care, including their repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was passed under Obama’s administration.
Many people have been unable to begin or continue fertility treatments due to a lack of health insurance coverage for such procedures. Even though coverage has been growing, in 2023, Mercer found that fewer than half of U.S. firms with 500 or more workers offered in vitro fertilization coverage.
Following her public disclosure of her own experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF), Republican Representative Michelle Steel of California came under fire for openly endorsing a GOP bill that sought to provide constitutional protection to embryos at “the moment of fertilization.” Steel announced her disapproval of federal restrictions on in vitro fertilization (IVF) two days after winning her primary, prompting her to withdraw her co-sponsorship of the proposal in March.
She told the Associated Press that lawmakers “must pass policies to support and expand access to IVF treatments.”
Democrats will use Republicans’ inconsistency to further their claims that Trump and his party will not defend reproductive rights.
“Watch what they do, not what they say,” was the message from Michigan’s Democratic senate candidate Elissa Slotkin.
