Former President Donald Trump told an all-female audience he was the “father of IVF” on Tuesday at a Fox News town hall in Georgia.
“Oh, I want to talk about IVF. I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question,” Trump said to a town hall attendee with a question about the procedure.
When asked what he would say to women who are concerned that Republican abortion bans will affect their ability to access IVF and other fertility treatments, Trump recalled his conversation with Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, whom he said explained the procedure to him.
“I said, ‘Explain IVF very quickly,’” said Trump to moderator and Fox News Harris Faulkner. “And within about two minutes, I understood, we’re totally in favor of IVF.”
Trump’s claim comes after months of flip flopping on the topic of abortion, with many Republicans struggling to explain how they would outlaw abortion while also allowing IVF.
The highly popular fertility treatment has come under threat since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion.
In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and that anyone who destroys them can be held liable for wrongful death, putting a halt to fertility treatments in the state.
“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump told Faulkner at Tuesday’s event. “We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.”
On the campaign trail on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump’s comments “quite bizarre.”
“If what he meant is taking responsibility, well, then yeah, he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state,” said Harris, reported The Hill. “What he should take responsibility for is that couples who are praying and hoping and working toward growing a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments have now been put at risk.”
Senate Democrats have brought two bills this year that would guarantee the right to IVF. Republican senators blocked both bills.
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