Former President Donald Trump declared himself the “father of IVF” to an audience of exclusively women at a taped Fox News town hall event that aired Wednesday morning.
Trump fielded a range of questions from women voters who were almost entirely Republican and hand-selected by Fox News, The Independent reported. The conversation shifted to reproductive rights towards the end.
“I want to talk about IVF. I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question,” Trump said before one woman spoke.
“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump continued to tell host Harris Faulkner. “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.”
IVF, the fertility treatment responsible for about 2% of U.S. births, emerged as a central issue in the presidential race earlier this year when Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children and that people can be held legally responsible for destroying them. At least 12 other states now have pending legislation that threatens the legality of IVF.
Throughout his campaign, the 78-year-old Republican nominee has repeatedly tried to frame himself as a defender of IVF, despite handpicking the Supreme Court justices responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade. GOP party members have also twice voted to block legislation that would legally protect those who choose to undergo IVF. The party's platform also endorses the concept of “fetal personhood,” which threatens access to all reproductive care, including IVF.
“Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF,’ What is he talking about?” Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on X. “His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether.”
Gwen Walz, the wife of Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, was also baffled by Trump’s self-proclaimed title.
“The father of IVF? More like the father of Georgia’s abortion ban," she said at a campaign event in Georgia. The mother of two has previously shared that she underwent fertility treatment herself.
“The 'father of IVF' isn’t just creepy," she added, "it’s downright nuts."
