'We want more babies': Trump's IVF plan draws flak from right and left
WASHINGTON ? Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will require insurance companies or the government to cover "all costs associated" with in-vitro fertilization if he's reelected.
"Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely," Trump told a crowd in Potterville, Michigan.
Anti-abortion groups were appalled, while Democrats noted that Senate Republicans ? including Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance ? had shot down a bill guaranteeing access to IVF earlier this year.
"Hundreds of thousands of embryos ? each of them as fully human as you or me ? are created and then destroyed or frozen in IVF procedures," Ann Scheidler, president of Pro-Life Action League, said in a statement Friday. "Those lives are discarded in a prime example of what Pope Francis calls 'throwaway culture.'"
Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion, IVF rose to prominence after a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court granted legal protections to embryos fertilized through IVF ? which could have effectively banned the procedure. Amid widespread shock and outrage, state lawmakers quickly passed a bill clearing way for continued IVF in Alabama.
The estimated average cost per IVF cycle is about $12,000, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Trump, who has long said he supports IVF, touted his new proposal at a later campaign stop in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as well as in an interview with NBC News.
"We're doing this because we just think it's great," the Republican nominee told NBC, "and we need great children, beautiful children in our country."
Here's what to know about the details of this proposal so far.
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So, who would be paying for IVF?
The former president on Thursday suggested that either the government or insurance companies would be responsible for the costs of IVF.
"We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment," Trump said in his interview with NBC, adding, "We're going to be mandating that the insurance company pay."
Trump has not specified details of how this would be implemented.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, told CNN Friday morning the Republican nominee believes coverage should come from insurance companies and did not mention government funding.
"You have insurance companies that obviously are forced to cover a whole host of services," Vance said. "The (former) president explicitly said that he wants insurers to cover additional fertility services."
Trump told NBC Thursday his administration would ensure the treatment is available to "all Americans that need it," though, when asked by USA TODAY Friday if that included single women and same-sex couples, the campaign did not specify.
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Abortion opponents aghast at IVP proposal
Opponents of abortion came out against Trump's proposal, with many prominent conservative groups saying they take issue with the fertility treatment and asking Trump to "walk back" the idea.
During the IVF process, doctors create multiple embryos to give patients a higher chance of getting pregnant, gynecologist Dr. Karen Tang previously told USA TODAY. Unused or low-quality embryos are then commonly discarded, a point of controversy for many anti-abortion advocates.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said that while the organization supports fertility treatments, they want "strong medical safety standards" in place.
“We believe human embryos should not be needlessly destroyed. All too often, proposals on this issue go too far by giving blanket immunity to IVF clinics," Dannenfelser said in a statement. "These are real scenarios for which families in America will have no recourse."
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Abortion rights groups attack Trump on Roe v Wade
Trump's opponents called the proposal "disingenuous."
“Congratulations to Donald Trump for realizing that his position and his record on abortion are wildly unpopular, particularly with women who will decide this election," Jessica Mackler, president of EMILY's List, one of the country's largest groups supporting female, pro-abortion rights candidates.
"But rather than give him credit for a disingenuous and unserious proposal that contradicts his own GOP platform," Mackler said, "we’ll credit him for something he actually did: overturning Roe v. Wade, ending abortion access for millions of women across the country, and jeopardizing reproductive freedom for all of us."
Trump appointed three members of the Supreme Court conservative majority that overturned Roe.
More: Push to protect IVF fails in the Senate after Republicans reject Democratic plan
Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said Trump’s IVF proposal can't be taken seriously, emphasizing that Senate Republicans in June blocked legislation to guarantee access to IVF and to require employer-sponsored insurance to cover it.
Trump’s running mate, Vance, was among the Republicans who voted to stop the IVF bill from advancing.
“American women are not stupid. And we know the only guaranteed protection for IVF is a new national law, which Kamala Harris supports and Donald Trump opposes,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a call with reporters Friday.
The Harris campaign is launching a 50-stop “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour on Tuesday to “hold Trump directly accountable” for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The tour begins in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump resides.
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Reproductive rights are a key issue in this year's election, potentially giving Democratic candidates an electoral edge. Republicans like Trump have sought to find a message that resonates with voters on abortion and IVF.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Trump has been consistent in his positions on reproductive rights and "also supports universal access to contraception and IVF."
Contributing: Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson and Charles Trepany, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump IVF plan attacked by evangelicals and Democrats