White House says Trump is reviewing IVF
policy recommendations promised in executive order
[May 21, 2025]
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO
CHICAGO (AP) — Days after a bombing outside a Southern California
fertility clinic, a White House official confirmed Tuesday that the
Trump administration is reviewing a list of recommendations to expand
access to in vitro fertilization.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February asking for
ways to protect access and “aggressively” lower “out-of-pocket and
health plan costs for IVF treatment.” White House spokesperson Kush
Desai said the White House Domestic Policy Council wrote the list of
recommendations over the last 90 days.
“This is a key priority for President Trump, and the Domestic Policy
Council has completed its recommendations,” Desai said in a statement to
The Associated Press.
Desai did not offer additional details about when the recommendations or
a plan would be released or give details about the contents of the
report.
The report was sent to the president days after an explosion damaged
part of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs. The FBI believes a
25-year-old man was responsible for the blast, and authorities said his
writings suggest he held anti-natalist views that include a belief that
it's morally wrong for people to bring children into the world.
Investigators have called the attack an act of terrorism.
The explosion brought renewed attention to the common fertility
treatment IVF after it became a major political talking point during the
2024 U.S. presidential race.
Dr. Brian Levine, a New York City reproductive endocrinologist and IVF
specialist, said he expects the White House report will contain
recommendations for the states and also hopes it calls for expanding IVF
coverage for members of the military and federal government employees.
“As a fertility doctor who’s been practicing for the last 13 years, I
don’t think I’ve ever had this level of excitement for what the
government is going to do," he said. "For the first time in my career,
IVF is a priority at the highest levels of the government. It signals to
patients that finally our advocacy is being heard. Both sides of the
aisle are recognizing the problem we have in this country with access to
IVF care.”
Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatment while on the
campaign trail, after his Supreme Court nominees helped to overturn Roe
v. Wade, which had provided a constitutional right to abortion for half
a century. That 2022 decision has led to a wave of restrictions in
Republican-led states, including some that have threatened IVF access by
trying to define life as beginning at conception.
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Lab staff prepare small petri dishes, each holding several 1-7 day
old embryos, for cells to be extracted from each embryo to test for
viability at the Aspire Houston Fertility Institute in vitro
fertilization lab Feb. 27, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke,
File)
 During his campaign, Trump vowed to
make the fertility treatment free for women but didn’t give details
about how he would fund his plan or precisely how it would work.
Abortion rights groups countered that IVF would not be threatened if
not for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which Trump has proudly
taken credit for.
IVF costs vary but range from about $12,000 to $25,000 per cycle,
and people often need more than one cycle. Insurance coverage can be
patchy. Some plans cover it, some partly cover it and some don’t
cover it at all.
Most Americans want access to IVF protected. Last year, a poll from
The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research
found that about six out of 10 U.S. adults support that.
Trump's stance on IVF has put him at odds with the actions of much
of his own party. While Trump has claimed the Republican Party has
been a “leader” on IVF, many Republicans have been left grappling
with the tension between support for the procedure and for laws
passed by their own party that grant legal personhood not only to
fetuses but to any embryos that are destroyed in the IVF process.
GOP efforts to create a national narrative that it is receptive of
IVF also have been undercut by state lawmakers, Republican-dominated
courts and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks, as well
as opposition to legislative attempts to protect IVF access.
Mini Timmaraju, CEO and president of the national abortion rights
organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Trump’s comments
about IVF “lip service.”
"All Trump has done is stack his administration with extremists,
restrict access to reproductive care, and implement the dangerous
Project 2025 plan, which would threaten access to IVF nationwide,”
she said.
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