Trump Announces IVF Expansion Pathway

President Donald Trump and pharmaceutical company EMD Serono announced a deal on Thursday aimed at reducing the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF). 

The Details: Trump also said EMD Serono and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intend to expedite the fertility drug Pergoveris. Furthermore, he announced a push for supplemental “fertility insurance” plans, along with discounted IVF medications on the impending “TrumpRx.” Trump estimated that IVF drug costs will decrease by 73% per cycle.

Key Quotes: “We want to make it easier for all couples to have babies, raise children and start the families they have always dreamed about,” Trump declared. But when asked about the strong disapproval from members of the pro-life community, he responded, “I don’t know about the views of that… I think this is very pro-life.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) alternatively stated, “Every human life, born and preborn, is sacred and loved by God. Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognize that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention. And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.”

For Context: During his presidential campaign, Trump promised Americans, “your government will pay for – or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for – all costs associated with IVF treatment.” In February, he signed an executive order to expand IVF access. Trump’s IVF push, along with the FDA approval of an abortion pill in early October, contradicts the beliefs of many pro-life Trump supporters, due to the IVF industry’s widespread embryonic destruction. 

How The Media Covered It: Associated Press (Left bias) and New York Post (Lean Right) framed the news as fulfilling at least some IVF-related promises that Trump made during his campaign. However, AP also asserted that “it falls far short of his promise as a candidate to make IVF treatment free.” Deseret News (Center), which is notably owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, published an additional article centered on the USCCB’s opposition to “the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property.” 

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.