Trump says he is the father of IVF and recently learned what it is

Former President Donald Trump declared he was “the father of IVF” during a Fox News panel broadcast on Wednesday, while saying he only recently discovered what the decades-old procedure actually was.

When told he had a question about in vitro fertilization, Trump said, “Oh, I want to talk about IVF.” I am the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question.”

His questioner identified herself as a mother of three who has friends who are “very concerned about the abortion bans” brought about by the repeal of Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022 “will affect their access to IVF and other fertility treatments.” She asked what Trump would say to these women.

His response contained a number of misrepresentations and inaccuracies — and a comment on the appearance of Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala.

“So I got a call from Katie Britt, a young, incredibly attractive person from Alabama. She's a senator and she called me like 'emergency, emergency' because a judge in Alabama had ruled that the IVF clinics were illegal and she A judge ruled and she said friends of mine came to me and they were like angry that I didn't even know they were leaving. It's fertilization. “I didn’t know they were even involved in it – nobody talks about it, they don’t talk about it,” Trump’s response began.

The court case he was referring to involved the conservative Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos created through IVF are considered children under state law, meaning people could theoretically be sued for destroying embryos .

The court did not declare that IVF clinics were illegal or should be closed, but some clinics in the state stopped treatments for fear of legal repercussions.

The IVF process, which dates back to 1978, involves combining sperm and eggs in a laboratory to create embryos and then implanting one or more embryos into a person's uterus. Excess embryos are often frozen and stored, but are also often discarded if they have genetic abnormalities or patients do not need to use them.

Trump said he asked Britt for more information.

“And I said: Explain IVF, very IVF, very quickly. And within about two minutes, I got it,” Trump said, adding that he told Britt, “We’re all for IVF.”

He then explained that he immediately jumped into action after the call.

“I issued a statement within an hour, a really convincing statement from some experts, really convincing. And we were fully committed to it, the Republican Party, the entire party. The Alabama legislature overturned it a day later and approved it. “Fallen,” he said.

Trump posted the statement on his social media platform Truth Social, a week after the court ruling and a day after a Republican senator and House Democrats introduced a bill to protect IVF.

Trump's statement said: “I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples trying to have a precious baby” and that he “urges the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to make it available.” of IVF in Alabama.” ”

Lawmakers passed their bill to provide some protections, and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed it on March 6 — less than three weeks after the court decision.

Democrats said the law wouldn't have been necessary at all if Trump's nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court hadn't eliminated abortion protections in 2022, but Trump insisted at the town hall that “we really are the party of IVF.”

“We want fertilization, through and through. And the Democrats have tried to attack it, and we're even more pro-IVF than they are, so we're all for it,” he said.

Republican support for IVF is not universal; Some religious conservatives oppose it.

“Hundreds of thousands of embryos – each as fully human as you or me – are created and then destroyed or frozen in IVF procedures,” Ann Scheidler, president of the Pro-Life Action League, told Politico last month after Trump said. he was a “leader” on the issue during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump, trying to shore up support among moderate women, was asked by NBC News in August what he would do about IVF if elected in November, surprising many in his campaign and in his party by saying: “We will do that.” But under the Trump administration, we will pay for that treatment.”

“We will make the insurance company pay,” he added.

Some fiscal conservatives, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., oppose the proposal, which Trump has not yet released in detail.

“I am in favor of people making an individual decision about IVF. But the government has no money. “We're $2 trillion in the hole, so I'm not in favor of taxpayers picking up the tab,” Paul, who has not endorsed Trump this year, said last month. “People react emotionally when it comes to an issue, so they decide to completely give in and go way beyond a position they never really supported because they're afraid people will blame them.”

On Wednesday, Trump's campaign team tried to walk back part of what he said at the town hall – that he was the “father of IVF.”

“It was a joke President Trump made in jest while enthusiastically answering a question about IVF, as he strongly supports broad access to fertility treatments for women and families,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Harris told reporters Wednesday that Trump's “father of IVF” claim was “pretty bizarre.”

“He should take responsibility for the fact that couples who are praying, hoping and working towards starting a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments are now at risk,” she said.

The person considered the true “Father of IVF” is Robert Edwards, a British physiologist who spent nearly two decades developing the procedure. For his efforts, he received the Nobel Prize in 2010 and died in 2013.