Trump issues IVF executive order, sparking debate among conservatives
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday which seeks to reduce in vitro fertilization costs and expand its access, but the move has met with some concern from conservative groups.
'Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,' the executive order stated. 'Providing support, awareness, and access to affordable fertility treatments can help these families navigate their path to parenthood with hope and confidence.'
By May 19, the Domestic Policy Council must submit policy recommendations to the president that would 'aggressively' reduce out-of-pocket IVF costs and allow more people access to it.
While the executive order did not lay out specifics on how the Trump administration will proceed, it promised to ease 'unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens' that make IVF expensive.
Congress has a history of imposing regulations on IVF, including the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment. Similar opposition to IVF has continued up through 2024, when Republican senators shut down the Right to IVF Act twice.
On the campaign trail, Trump called himself 'the father of IVF' during a woman-only town hall event and vowed to make the treatment accessible.
'We really are the party for IVF,' Trump said in October. 'We want fertilization ... and we're even more on IVF than them (Democrats). So, we're totally in favor of it.'
However, not everyone in the Republican Party is celebrating the executive order.
Katy Faust, the founder and president of the children's rights organization, Them Before Us, voiced her concern over IVF pregnancies in a podcast with Christine Yeargin.
During their conversation, Faust said, 'From the children's rights perspective, we are highly critical of IVF. That's because only about 7% of babies created 'in vitro,' in glass, in the laboratory, will be born alive.'
She added her concern over abortion being a common part of IVF, especially in surrogacy. 'If the baby is not developing the way they would like it to be developed,' abortion serves 'quality control and quantity control.'
Similarly, Lila Rose, president of the pro life organization Live Action, wrote on X Wednesday, 'IVF doesn't address the root causes of the infertility health crisis in America.'
'It's a Big Pharma bandaid, with major ethical issues, like millions of frozen & destroyed embryos,' she continued. 'If we want to Make America Healthy Again, we should invest in addressing and healing the underlying causes of infertility.'
On the other hand, Sen. Katie Boyd Britt, R-Ala., took to X Tuesday afternoon, thanking Trump for his executive order. She added, 'IVF is profoundly pro-family, and I'm proud to work with President Trump on ensuring more loving parents can start and grow their families.'
In vitro fertilization is the process of collecting eggs from a woman's ovaries and fertilizing them with a man's sperm in a lab, as the Mayo Clinic described.
'IVF can be done using a couple's own eggs and sperm. Or it may involve eggs, sperm or embryos from a known or unknown donor. In some cases, a gestational carrier — someone who has an embryo implanted in the uterus — might be used," per Mayo Clinic.
A study published by Stanford University in 2023 made an economic case for IVF, arguing that selecting an embryo without a genetic mutation results in reduced health care costs longer term.
The University of California San Francisco describes this process as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, which is used 'to reduce the risk of passing on inherited conditions.'
In PGD, multiple embryos are grown in a lab and are evaluated for 'specific genetic conditions,' once they reach the six-to-eight-cell stage, the university explained.
If the embryos are unaffected by conditions the parents wish to avoid, they are implanted in the surrogate or mother's uterus.
In most states, including Utah, IVF surrogacy is legal for heterosexual, homosexual and single parents.
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