Travel & Lifestyle: Trump’s Executive Order On IVF Lacks Substance

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would help lower costs and expand access to in vitro fertilization, though critics argue that it does not lay out concrete plans to do so.

The order directs his administration to come up with a list of ideas for “protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs” in the next 90 days. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the order on X, formerly known as Twitter, moments before Trump spoke about it during a press conference at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.

“Fertilization, I’ve been saying that we’re going to do what we have to do, and I think the women ― and families, husbands ― are very appreciative of it,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday evening.

The president had made promises on the campaign trail to expand access to IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last year that frozen embryos should be legally defined as children – effectively criminalizing the widely used fertility treatment. Trump condemned the deeply unpopular Alabama ruling at the time and promised to support the availability of IVF, writing on social media that “the Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life.”

Although the state Supreme Court’s decision was later overruled by an Alabama law protecting IVF, Republicans continue to struggle to match their words of support with their anti-IVF actions. Many of the House Republicans who initially condemned the Alabama court ruling went on to support a total abortion ban that would also criminalize IVF.

The IVF executive order seems to be written in good faith, but it’s hard to believe Trump’s promise to expand IVF access when he has long held ties to extreme right-wing organizations that actively oppose the fertility treatment.

“The executive order is a first step,” said Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. “Here’s the thing: We’ve been doing this a really long time. We have all the policy recommendations. Quite honestly, a few hours with us, I think they’ll have this done in 30 days – it’s not going to take 90 days.”

Resolve has worked on national policy around fertility treatments since its founding in 1974 and has advocated for increased insurance coverage of IVF for more than 30 years. Collura told HuffPost the White House has not reached out to the organization.

Both Democrats and Republicans have introduced legislation focused on IVF access in recent years.

Last year, Democrats introduced The Right to IVF Act, a package of bills that would establish a statutory right to access IVF and protect providers from criminalization, as well as expand IVF insurance coverage. The package was led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), both of whom have championed access to fertility treatments for years.

“Don’t be fooled. 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 in a statement Tuesday. “But if he is actually serious about taking real action to accomplish his own campaign promise to make IVF free for everyone, there’s a simple way he can prove it: He can call on Senate Republicans to immediately back my Right to IVF Act that would require insurance plans to cover IVF. Otherwise, it’s all just lip-service from a known liar.”

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) also introduced legislation last year that they claimed would protect IVF by barring states from receiving Medicaid funding if they implement a ban on IVF. Critics of the bill believe the legislation could motivate states to reject Medicaid funding.

“This is promises made, promises kept from President Trump,” Britt said Wednesday morning in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper about the executive order.

When asked what current policies Resolve supports, Collura said the bipartisan HOPE With Fertility Services Act is first on her list. The bill, introduced last session, would require private health insurance to cover IVF and intrauterine insemination (IUI) services. Collura also pointed to Democrats’ Right to IVF Act as an effective and holistic approach to expanding IVF services and cutting costs for patients.

Resolve opposes Cruz’s and Britt’s bill. Collura said that the GOP bill did nothing to expand access or protect IVF: “When you think about a carrot and a stick, it was just the stick.”