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Conservatives Cheer As White House Has No Plans For IVF Coverage Mandate

The White House is not planning to force insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization treatments, according to a report over the weekend.

The Trump administration is not planning to follow through on a campaign pledge to ensure either the government or insurance companies pay for couples to undergo IVF, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing two people with knowledge of internal discussions.

Last August, Trump announced his IVF promise during a campaign rally in Michigan.

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump said in his speech.

“We want to produce babies in this country, right?” Trump said.

IVF is a fertility treatment that involves doctors taking eggs from a woman and sperm from a man and creating embryos in a lab, then attempting to implant them in the woman’s uterus. One round of IVF can cost couples $20,000 or more, and it is not usually covered by insurance.

IVF sprang into the national conversation in the thick of campaign season last year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a couple who lost frozen embryos in a clinic accident could file a wrongful death lawsuit over their child’s demise.

Expanding IVF access remains a “huge priority” for Trump, but the administration is not currently considering requiring insurance companies to cover it, the insiders told the Post.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump is still working to expand IVF.

“President Trump pledged to expand access to fertility treatments for Americans who are struggling to start families,” the spokeswoman said. “The Administration is committed like none before it to using its authorities to deliver on this pledge.”

One of the Washington Post reporters who authored the IVF story called it an “apparent L” for conservatives who promote having children.

“Another apparent L from this admin for the conservative natalists,” chief economics reporter Jeff Stein posted on X.

However, while about 63% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say IVF access is a good thing, IVF remains controversial among conservatives, including those who promote big families.

The Catholic Church forbids IVF in part because very often, many embryos are created in the IVF process only to be destroyed or frozen indefinitely.

Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution expressing alarm about the way IVF is currently done, including the “destruction of embryonic human life.”

Many pro-life conservatives who believe life begins at conception oppose IVF as well.

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