OAN Staff James Meyers
3:12 PM – Friday, August 30, 2024
Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that he could implement a policy as president that would pay for in vitro fertilization treatments (IVF).
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“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,” the former president said at a campaign event in Potterville, Michigan.
“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely. And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes, so that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able… We’re pro family,” Trump continued.
“But the IVF treatments are expensive. It’s very hard for many people to do it and to get it, but I’ve been in favor of IVF, right from the beginning.”
“So, we’re going to be paying for that treatment, or we’re going to be mandating that the insurance companies pay,” he added.
Trump did not expand on how the mandate would look, as he is still brainstorming on the details and what this could mean for couples in the U.S., but the former president still reiterated that he was “always for IVF,” NBC reported.
IVF is “helping women and men and families,” Trump added.
Trump’s IVF statement was highlighted by social media users online who connected the similarities of opinion between the former president and billionaire SpaceX owner Elon Musk, who has similarly voiced his concerns about underpopulation.
“Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” Musk wrote online previously.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign called out Trump’s IVF announcement, asserting that it is “one of his most brazen lies yet.”
“Donald Trump’s own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide. Trump lies as much if not more than he breathes, but voters aren’t stupid. Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women’s freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country,” Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
However, the claim that Trump was personally responsible for the overturning of Roe v. Wade is not factual, as the U.S. Supreme Court was the one responsible for officially reversing it in 2022.
IVF has been a major topic in the upcoming election after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, that frozen embryos and fertilized eggs are still legally considered people, and anyone who destroys them can be held liable for the death(s).
IVF services were mostly halted in The Yellowhammer State in reaction to the ruling, but lawmakers quickly passed legislation to address civil and criminal liability for IVF providers, allowing services to resume.
During his Michigan remarks, Trump repeated his belief that abortion policies should be decided by the states separately and that he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger.
In an interview with NBC on Thursday, Trump was asked how he would vote on Florida’s abortion referendum in November. A “no” vote would pave the way for a six-week abortion ban, which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed last year.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CNN, “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”
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