Trump declares himself ‘father of IVF’ at town hall with all-female audience
CNN
Donald Trump on Tuesday declared himself the “father of IVF,” a fertility treatment that has come under threat following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Donald Trump on Tuesday declared himself the “father of IVF,” a fertility treatment that has come under threat following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s unclear what precisely the former president meant when he made the comment at a Fox News town hall in battleground Georgia that was billed as focusing on women’s issues and had an all-female audience. But he has repeatedly returned to the issue – talking up his support for IVF – on the campaign trail, where he has given a long series of confusing or contradictory answers about his stance on abortion. “We really are the party for IVF,” Trump told moderator and Fox News host Harris Faulkner on “The Faulkner Focus.” “We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.” In vitro fertilization, an expensive, decades-old treatment used by millions of parents, became a flashpoint in the nationwide clash over abortion and reproductive rights earlier this year when Alabama’s Supreme Court said that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death. The Alabama ruling infuriated reproductive rights advocates who reasoned it would have a chilling effect on IVF, scaring off doctors who perform the procedure and sending prices even higher. It also set off a political firestorm that ultimately sent the state’s Republican-led Legislature scrambling to pass a bill giving civil and criminal immunity to providers and patients. Trump and Republicans quickly distanced themselves from the Alabama case, but Democrats, led by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, have argued that the ruling offered a preview of the policies Trump would seek to enact if he returned to the White House.
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