Trump proposes making government or insurance companies pay for IVF treatments

By Aaron Pellish and Alison Main, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump said Thursday he will implement a policy as president that would pay for in vitro fertilization treatments, without specifying how the treatments would be paid for.

“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, so 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,” Trump added.

Trump did not specify how the treatments would be paid for.

Trump doubled down on the proposal Thursday evening at a town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and touted his response following the Alabama Supreme Court’s controversial IVF ruling earlier this year.

“I kept hearing that I’m against it, and I’m actually very much for it. In fact, in Alabama, where … a judge ruled against it, and I countered the judge and came out with a very strong statement for it,” Trump said at the town hall, which was moderated by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who endorsed him earlier this week.

In the months since the Alabama high court’s February ruling that frozen embryos are children, Democrats have sought to use threats to IVF to paint Republicans, including Trump, as seeking to restrict access to reproductive health care.

But Trump has sought to distance himself from the decision, along with a swirl of other Republicans. The former president said shortly after the ruling that he “strongly” supports “the availability of IVF for couples” and called on Alabama lawmakers to “act quickly to find an immediate solution” to keep the procedure available in the state. In March, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a law protecting IVF access in the state.

Earlier in his Michigan remarks, Trump repeated his belief that abortion policies should be decided by states and that he supports exceptions in cases of rape and incest and when the life of the mother is under threat.

Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, questioned the sincerity of Trump’s new proposal.

“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,” Chitika said in a statement Thursday. “Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women’s freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country. There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC News 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 Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year.

“Well, I think the six week is too short. It has to be more time. And I’ve told them that I want more weeks,” Trump, a Florida resident, said.

Pressed if that means he is in favor of voting for the constitutional amendment that would protect the right to an abortion until fetal viability, Trump said, “I’m voting that – I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”

Trump’s campaign later clarified that the former president has not said how he will vote on the referendum this fall but was merely reiterating his opposition to the state’s six-week ban.

In a statement to CNN, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “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.”

Most experts say fetal viability occurs at around 23-24 weeks of gestation.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Kit Maher, Omar Jimenez, Jeff Simon and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

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