Donald Trump’s ‘aggressive’ move on IVF
The US President has upheld an election promises, his press secretary says, after announcing a huge move on fertility.
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US President Donald Trump has made an executive order to “aggressively” lower the costs of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in a move that could spark backlash among conservatives and the religious right.
Mr Trump’s order gives advisers 90 days to investigate reducing out-of-pocket expenses for the fertility treatment, as his administration recognises “the importance of family formation”.
The President declared himself the “father of IVF” in October while also revealing he only recently had the procedure explained to him by Senator Katie Britt, who he called a “fantastically attractive person from Alabama”.
“And I said, explain IVF … very quickly. And within about two minutes, I understood it,” he said on Fox News.
“We’re totally in favour of IVF.”
The executive order states “our public policy must make it easier for loving and longing mothers and fathers to have children”.
“Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options,” it continued.
Mr Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, shortly after signing the order, that “I think the women and families, husbands, are very appreciative of it.”
A single cycle of IVF in the US can cost up to $30,000 (AU$47,000).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared the executive order fact sheet on X saying the decision was one of the President’s “promises kept” from his election bid.
During his campaign, Mr Trump pledged to make the government or insurance companies cover IVF.
“Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,” the fact sheet reads.
“It is the policy of my Administration to ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable.”
The President – whose billionaire top donor and ally Elon Musk has had several children by IVF – has long held conflicting stances on reproductive rights.
He frequently boasts about appointing Supreme Court justices who ended federal protections for abortion access in 2022, a seismic move that made him a hero to the anti-abortion movement, which has driven conservative voters to the polls for decades.
But he drew fury from that same movement when he announced that in a second term he would ensure free IVF.
At the time Mr Trump voiced worries that Republicans were out of step with voters on the issue.
Republicans are divided on fertility treatments such as IVF, with many hailing them as a boost to American families.
Others, with strong beliefs that life begins at conception, oppose IVF because the procedure can produce multiple embryos, not all of which get used.
Almost every Senate Republican voted against assuring IVF access in a vote in June last year – including then-Ohio senator JD Vance, now the US Vice President.
Reproductive rights activists had feared that the Supreme Court decision on abortion threatened IVF, especially after a court in Alabama last year ruled that frozen embryos could be considered people, leading to several clinics briefly pausing treatments.
Mr Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris had put reproductive rights at the heart of her election platform, warning that moves on abortion also jeopardised access to fertility treatments.
Originally published as Donald Trump’s ‘aggressive’ move on IVF
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