Donald Trump’s surprising pledge this week to have the government pay for fertility treatments or mandate that insurance cover them for American families shouldn’t be taken seriously, Democrats warned Friday.
“American women are not stupid,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Friday on a press call organized by Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, calling his proposal “smoke and mirrors.”
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“Making vague promises about insurance coverage does not stop a single extremist judge or state legislature from banning IVF,” she added, advocating for federal legislation protecting access to the treatment.
“Women see Trump’s attempt to modulate his radical position on reproductive rights for what it is: a total lie,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The idea of having the government cover the costs of in vitro fertilization ― which can run patients tens of thousands of dollars ― isn’t new. Democrats in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation on the subject for years, dating back to at least 2018 when Trump was president. They never had any Republican support.
In June, Senate Republicans blocked a package of bills expanding access to IVF after a legal ruling in Alabama briefly halted all IVF services in the state. One of the bills in that package, authored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), would have mandated insurance coverage for IVF and other infertility treatments. Only two Republicans voted to advance the measure: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
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HuffPost reached out to over a dozen Senate Republican offices on Friday inquiring about whether they would support the government picking up the tab for IVF costs or a health insurance mandate doing so ― something they’ve long opposed. Just one responded so far.
An aide to Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) pointed instead to his bill that wouldn’t cover IVF costs but rather help families better plan for them by doubling the current contribution limits on health savings accounts.
Trump and his Republican allies have been scrambling to moderate their image on reproductive rights in recent weeks, particularly after Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. Polls have shown abortion rights measures on the ballot this year to be broadly popular, and Republicans are fearing a 2022 election redux, when the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade fueled a backlash for GOP candidates at the ballot box.
On Thursday, Trump waffled on the issue by criticizing Florida’s six-week abortion ban, something that wouldn’t be possible without his appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe. “We need more than six weeks,” Trump told NBC. Previously, he had insisted that the issue of abortion should be left up to “whatever” the states decide.
Republicans have for years supported policies restricting abortion, including a bill that declares human life begins at conception, without an exception for IVF.
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“Americans are smarter than this. They know Trump and extreme Republicans will say one thing and then turn around and do the opposite,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said in a statement on Friday.
“If Trump and his allies — like his running mate JD Vance — actually cared about making fertility treatments more accessible for Americans, they would’ve helped pass my Right to IVF Act earlier this year. Yet nearly every Republican senator blocked it, including JD Vance,” she added.
