Trump says he wants government or insurance to pay for IVF, criticizes Florida abortion ban
Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he supports having the government or insurance companies cover the costs of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and criticized a six-week abortion ban in Florida, comments he walked back on Friday.
"Under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment," Trump said in an interview with NBC News. "Or we're going to be mandating that the insurance company pay."
Trump soon announced the policy at a rally in Michigan, telling a crowd that "your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment." Health insurance companies are not currently obligated to cover IVF treatments, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Former President Trump tells NBC News that if he’s re-elected, his administration would not only protect access to IVF, but would have either the government or insurance companies cover the cost of it.
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) August 29, 2024
More: https://t.co/ByO77cGtx8 pic.twitter.com/Liv2FgO2XT
The issue of access to fertility treatments became a political flashpoint in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were considered children under the law. The ruling caused an uproar and cleared the way for potential wrongful death claims if an embryo did not survive the process, causing several providers to pause IVF treatments.
Shortly after the Alabama decision, Trump called on the state's legislature to "quickly find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama." The state passed a law protecting the procedure in March, but the legal battle had already opened a new front in the national fight over reproductive rights.
Democrats have said the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade opened the door to restrictions on IVF and other fertility treatments, and candidates and elected officials have hammered their GOP opponents on the issue ever since.
At the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris said Trump and the GOP would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, enact a nationwide ban on the procedure and force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions.
"Simply put, they are out of their minds," she said.
In his interview with NBC News, Trump also criticized a Florida law that prohibits abortions after six weeks, with some exceptions. A proposed constitutional amendment is on the ballot in the state, where Trump is a resident.
"I think the six-week [ban] is too short. There has to be more time," he said. "I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks."
"I think the six week is too short, there has to be more time," former President Trump says how he'll vote on an abortion rights amendment in Florida. pic.twitter.com/rQAdPtW9i0
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) August 29, 2024
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's press secretary, said in a statement after the interview that 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."
On Friday, Trump — who faced backlash from some in the anti-abortion community over his Florida ballot initiative comments Thursday — said he will vote "no" on the measure.
"So I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks, I've disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it, I disagreed with it," Trump told Fox News Friday. "At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation where you can do an abortion in the ninth month. ... All of that stuff is unacceptable, so I'll be voting no for that reason."
Democrats generally support reinstating the framework for abortion that existed under Roe v. Wade, which allowed states to restrict abortion after the point of fetal viability, or roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy. The overwhelming number of abortions happen earlier. A 2021 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 93% of abortions in the U.S. occurred in the first trimester, before the 13th week. Fewer than 1% were performed after 21 weeks.
Trump previously suggested that he may support a 15-week abortion ban in an interview with WABC in March.
"The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15. And I'm thinking in terms of that. And it'll come out to something that's very reasonable. But people are really, even hard-liners are agreeing, seems to be, 15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at," Trump said.
Trump has also previously said he would not sign a federal abortion ban and argued that the issue is left to the states to decide.
In a separate interview with NBC News, Trump's running mate Sen. JD Vance reiterated that Trump would not sign a federal abortion ban if he were elected to a second term.