Trump signs order to study how to expand IVF and calls for 'radical transparency' from government

[February 19, 2025]  By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilization and issued a presidential memorandum calling for “radical transparency requirements” from the government, which he suggested could reduce wasteful spending.

On the campaign trail, Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatment after his Supreme Court nominees helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, leading to a wave of restrictions in Republican-led states, including some that have threatened access to IVF by trying to define life as beginning at conception.

Trump, who was at his Florida residence and club Mar-a-Lago, also signed another executive order as well as a presidential memorandum. The second executive order outlined the oversight functions of the Office of Management and Budget, while the memo requires the government to detail the “waste, fraud and abuse” that’s found as the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, looks to cut government spending.

DOGE has often fallen short of the administration’s promises of transparency. Musk has taken questions from journalists only once since becoming Trump’s most powerful adviser, and he’s claimed it’s illegal to name people who are working for him. Sometimes DOGE staff members have demanded access to sensitive government databases with little explanation.

Trump took more than 30 minutes of questions Tuesday on a range of topics and bashed the Biden administration throughout, highlighting issues such as its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, Venezuela policy and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump said he thought he had a “good chance” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine but bristled at suggestions that the U.S. and Russia had begun negotiations to end fighting without Ukraine playing a role. He even seemed to suggest that Ukraine was to blame for a war that began only after Russia invaded that country.

“Today I heard, ‘Well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years,” Trump said of Ukraine’s leaders. “You should have never started it.”

In anticipation of questions about his administration’s efforts to slash federal spending, the president said he wrote down examples of government programs around the world which he then listed off at length. They included funding to promote voter turnout in India and social cohesion initiatives in Mali — all of which Trump suggested collectively amounted to fraud.

Asked about the White House’s arguing in a court filing that Musk wasn’t the head of Trump’s government efficiency efforts, Trump said: “You could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want. But he’s a patriot.”

Trump said he thinks “women and families, husbands, are very appreciative” of his executive order on IVF, which offers a possible solution when a woman has trouble getting pregnant. The procedure involves retrieving her eggs and combining them in a lab dish with a man’s sperm to create a fertilized embryo, which is then transferred into the woman’s uterus in an attempt to create a pregnancy. IVF is done in cycles, and more than one may be required.

Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said that what the White House put out “looks extremely promising.”

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Pool via AP)

“The biggest barriers for people to building their families are the out-of-pocket costs, the lack of insurance coverage for this care,” she said.

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, said: “Donald Trump’s executive order does nothing to expand access to IVF. In fact, he’s the reason IVF is at risk in the first place.”

Duckworth said if Trump is going to follow through on his campaign promise to provide free IVF, he can start by supporting her legislation that would require insurance plans to cover IVF.

Trump, who spent the morning at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, spoke to reporters hours before his first joint TV interview with Musk aired in prime time on Fox News Channel. The president acknowledged during it that “inflation is back,” but noted that he'd only been in office a few weeks and insisted “I had nothing to do” with prices that remain stubbornly high.

Trump mentioned during that same interview that Musk is “probably not that happy” with things like tax breaks for electric vehicles likely not being included in tax legislation now being discussed in Congress, but he said Musk didn't seek special treatment for Tesla.

“I haven't asked the president for anything, ever," Musk added. Asked about potential conflicts of interest between Musk's governmental efforts and his businesses and how they will be handled, Trump said, “He won't be involved” and Musk said he'd recuse himself.

Musk has drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress and others for the methods he and his team at DOGE are using to cut spending, including foreign aid, and eliminate jobs across the bureaucracy.

The joint interview follows Musk’s appearance with Trump in the Oval Office last week, when both defended Musk’s approach to federal cost-cutting.

Also Tuesday night, an awards program was held at Mar-a-Lago by America’s Future. That's a conservative group led by Mike Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser in the Republican president’s first term. The program aims to preserve individual rights and promote American values and traditions, according to its website. The event honored one member each from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Space Force.

The event included a poolside reception, musical performances and dinner in Mar-a-Lago’s Grand Ballroom. The lineup included such names as Russell Brand, Ted Nugent and Mike Tyson.

Trump made an appearance at the event, according to video posted on social media Tuesday night, addressing the crowd on the patio as he stood near Tyson, Flynn and Nugent and declaring, “This is very, very friendly territory.”

Trump praised the men, including Flynn, who was one of the leading proponents of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The president called him “the real deal” and indicated he wanted to bring Flynn into his administration, saying he offered him “about 10 jobs."

“Anytime you want to come in, you know that, Mike, OK?” Trump said.

Flynn resigned from the first Trump administration less than a month after Trump’s inauguration. He was charged in 2017 with lying to the FBI about conservations he had with the Russians on Trump’s behalf. He twice pleaded guilty, but Trump pardoned him in the final weeks of his presidency.

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