Former President Donald Trump said Friday he “strongly support[s]” in vitro fertilization treatments “for couples who are trying to have a precious baby” after a week of turmoil and speculation over an Alabama court decision that categorized embryos as “children.”
“Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The Republican front-runner likened his stance to that of “the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans.”
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!” he wrote.
“That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America,” Trump went on.
A decision last week by the Alabama Supreme Court sparked widespread concern about access to fertility treatments under a conservative government ahead of the 2024 presidential election. In a case involving the accidental destruction of frozen embryos, the state’s high court issued a ruling that was riddled with references to Christian theology, siding with a couple that had sued for “wrongful death.”
The court determined that the state’s “Wrongful Death of a Minor Act is sweeping and unqualified,” and “applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation.”
It raised alarming legal questions about IVF due to the fact that the process does not always lead to the implantation of fertilized embryos. Clinics in Alabama abruptly halted IVF services amid the confusion.
Democrats have seized on the decision in their pitch to voters.
Some prominent Republicans had already expressed support for IVF, even before Trump spoke out.
But the Alabama decision also shone a harsh spotlight on the uncertain reality — and future — of reproductive health care across the country two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign argued that the IVF issue is a “direct result” of Trump’s presidency and Supreme Court appointments.
“Let’s be clear: Alabama families losing access to IVF is a direct result of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices overturning Roe v. Wade,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“Trump is responsible for 20 plus abortion bans, restrictions on women’s ability to decide if and when to grow a family, and attacks on contraception. He proudly overturned Roe, and brags about it on the campaign trail — as recently as last night.”
Trump’s top challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, declined to offer a strong opinion when she acknowledged her own IVF pregnancy but said, earlier this week, “I think embryos, to me, are babies.”
