Trump says he wants IVF treatments to be paid for by government or insurance companies if elected

POTTERVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News Thursday that if elected, his administration would not only protect access to in vitro fertilization but also ensure that the government or insurance companies cover the cost of the expensive service for American women who need it.

“Under the Trump administration, we're going to pay for this treatment,” Trump said, adding, “We're going to force the insurance company to pay.”

Asked whether the government would pay for IVF services or whether insurance companies would, Trump reiterated that one option would be for insurance companies to pay “under a mandate, yes.”

Abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF) have been political hurdles for the Republican Party this year. Democrats have lambasted Republicans over IVF in recent months, saying the GOP's restrictions on abortion could lead to restrictions on IVF as well.

In a statement, Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, said that “Donald Trump's own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide” and that “because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women's freedoms have been stripped 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.”

The statement references the GOP platform's language regarding the 14th Amendment in its section on abortion policy: “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that no person shall be denied life or liberty without due process of law, and that the states are therefore free to enact laws protecting these rights.” The platform further states that the party will support “mothers and policies that advance…IVF.”

The Alabama State Supreme Court ruled this year that embryos created through IVF should be considered people, a decision that led the state's largest fertility clinics to suspend IVF care.

Trump's position could put him at odds with abortion rights advocates who oppose parts of the IVF process that involve discarding unused embryos.

Currently, few people have insurance that covers fertility treatments like IVF, forcing many couples to pay the high costs of these treatments out of pocket. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates the cost per patient for an IVF cycle at $20,000.

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology says its member clinics performed 389,993 IVF cycles in 2022. At a cost of about $20,000 each, that would amount to $7.8 billion this year alone.

Over the past decade, a growing number of employers have begun offering fertility benefits. Some cover fixed amounts toward patient costs, while others impose lifetime caps on a specific number of cycles.

Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump's running mate, recently spoke in a separate interview with NBC News about his “frustration that reproductive rights is a family-friendly package that Republicans are much better at than Democrats. And the media always focuses on abortion. But, you know, we've actually done a lot of things to try to promote fertility treatments to people who are struggling with that.”

Trump's stance on IVF is the latest example of him responding to criticism of his presidential administration through his 2024 campaign policy proposals. After Democrats complained that his 2017 tax plan favored the wealthy, he announced that if re-elected, he would eliminate taxes on tips for service workers.

Now, as he and other Republicans face criticism for supporting the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, Trump is proposing to protect IVF and tackle its costs.

Trump did not explicitly say in the interview how he would vote on a ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would guarantee abortion rights up to fetal viability, or about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. He repeated his criticism that Florida’s current six-week abortion limit, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is too short. Trump added: “We need more time.”

Asked how he would vote in November, he said: “I'm going to vote to say we need more than six weeks.”

In response to questions from NBC News clarifying what that statement meant about how Trump would vote on the Florida ballot measure, senior adviser Jason Miller said Trump had not yet revealed whether he would support the amendment.

Trump wavered on the issue of abortion for a long time before arriving at his current position that it should be a state matter.

As president, before Roe v. Wade was overturned, he urged the Senate to pass a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. After leaving office, he celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe and the nation’s right to abortion, going so far as to say, “I got to kill Roe v. Wade,” in a social media post.

But as the presidential race has taken shape this year, he has drifted further apart from other Republicans on the issue, especially as abortion has become a key issue for Harris and her allies.

In a speech at the Democratic convention last week, Harris called Trump and Vance “crazy” and accused them of wanting to “ban medication abortion and implement nationwide abortion.”

In the interview, Trump said of abortion policy that exceptions are very important to me, later adding, I believe in exceptions for the life of the mother…incest, rape.

Trump also responded Thursday to criticism of his visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, saying that a family asked me whether or not I would take a photo at the grave of their loved one who should not have died.

He said he did not initiate the photo, adding: “While I was there, I did not ask for a photo. While I was there, they said, 'Sir, could we have a photo at the grave?'”

The Trump campaign came under fire this week after reports emerged that a Trump staffer abruptly shoved aside a cemetery staffer who tried to stop Trump and others from taking photos and videos in Section 60 of the cemetery in suburban Washington, Virginia, where service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried and where filming is generally prohibited.

Trump also lambasted Harris on the issue of immigration and border security, resuming his usual language about the growing number of migrants entering the country in recent years.

“Our country is going to hell. We have never been in a situation like this,” he said, adding: “No country has been invaded like we have been. And I think that alone is causing them to lose the election.”

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