California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill which requires certain health and disability insurance plans to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF), putting another one of Donald Trump’s reproductive rights dilemmas in the spotlight.
Reproductive rights, particularly abortion, have shaped up to be one of the major issues in this election, with Trump forced to balance battling the Democrats branding him as a threat to women’s rights, while simultaneously keeping the pro-life movement behind him.
The topic of IVF and who should fund it is seemingly another part of this problem for Trump, who has previously said the procedure would be funded by the government or mandated insurance companies if he is elected again, despite some pro-life movements taking issue with IVF processes discarding unused embryos.
On Sunday, Newsom announced that he had signed a bill requiring large group health service plan contracts and disability insurance policies to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility service, including IVF.
“California is a proud reproductive freedom state—and that includes increasing access to fertility services that help those who want to start a family,” Newsom said.
The Democratic Governor also took aim at Republicans, who last week struck down a bill that would federally protect access to IVF—for the second time this year.
Newsom said in his announcement: “As Republicans across the country continue to claw back rights and block access to IVF—all while calling themselves ‘the party of families’—we are proud to help every Californian make their own choices about the family they want.”
On August 29, in an interview with NBC News, the former President said: “We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment. We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”
This was one of several positions Trump faced criticism for from pro-life activists, including from Lila Rose, who leads the anti-abortion group Live Action.
Rose, who has started urging her hundreds of thousands of followers not to vote for Trump, spoke out against the former President on her podcast at the time, calling IVF “dangerous for children and unethical.”
She said: “It appears that the Trump campaign is making this decision this week to double down on their ultimately pro-abortion position and I think that’s devastating”
Donald Trump is to the left of Kamala Harris on IVF
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) September 11, 2024
While Trump has said he personally believes in certain abortion exceptions, his official position is to let U.S. states decide their own abortion policies after he appointed three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
IVF came into the spotlight when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos created through IVF can be considered children under state law, leading to warnings about the potential impact on fertility treatments and the freezing of embryos and causing some fertility clinics in the state to stop treatments.
Trump noted in the debate that he had condemned the ruling and urged Alabama lawmakers to find a solution to preserve access to IVF. The legislature rushed to pass a bill providing legal protections for the clinics.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s team via email for comment on California’s new bill.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told Newsweek: “President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House.”
He “supports universal access to contraception and IVF,” she said.
Donald Trump speaks at a town hall campaign event at Macomb Community College, Warren, Michigan, on September 27. Trump has had to walk a fine line on reproductive rights.
AP
