Trump says he supports IVF and calls for treatment to remain legal
Former President Donald Trump on Friday broke his silence on the Alabama Supreme Court’s declaration that frozen embryos are entitled to legal protection, calling on the state’s Legislature to “act quickly” to protect in vitro fertilization treatments, which he said should remain legal in every state.
Writing on his social media website, Trump said: “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.”
The ruling last week by Alabama’s top court has highlighted divisions in the Republican Party between staunch opponents of abortion who say life begins at conception and those who want to protect reproductive services like IVF, in which multiple eggs are fertilized in the hope that one embryo can be successfully implanted, for would-be parents who are having difficulty conceiving.
Democrats, led by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have assailed the decision as the inevitable consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade, which they say Trump is responsible for since he nominated justices who are opposed to constitutional protections for abortion.
But Trump’s remaining Republican opponent for the party’s presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, gave the former president a significant opening when she told NBC News that she agreed with the Alabama decision. Both candidates have tried to appear more moderate on the issue of abortion, given the power of abortion rights in recent elections.
“The Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life — and the side of Mothers, Fathers and their Beautiful Babies,” Trump wrote. “IVF is an important part of that.”