Harris-Walz Campaign Tour Puts IVF at the Center of Election

Harris’s campaign hosted a press call Friday morning on “Donald Trump’s Threat to Reproductive Freedom, Including IVF”, bringing another aspect of reproduction rights to the center of the election.

The event spotlighted Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, Reproductive Freedom for All President Mini Timmaraju and Alabama mother Latorya Beasley.

It comes one day after former President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News that if re-elected, his administration would protect in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and have the government or insurance companies cover the costs.

“We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said. “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”

But Vice President Kamala Harris‘s supporters are pointing toward the Republican‘s “long history of hostility toward IVF and women’s reproductive freedom.”

“American women are not stupid, and we know the only guarantee protection for IVF is a new national law, which Kamala Harris supports and Donald Trump opposes,” Warren said. “Anyone who cares about IVF will vote for Kamala Harris for president and Democrats for Congress.”

About 86 percent of Americans overwhelmingly think that IVF should be legal, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll from March.

“Women in America are living in a nightmare,” Warren said.

Beasley shared her own experience at the press conference. She was days away from an embryo transfer when the procedure was canceled and her chosen IVF clinic was closed due to the Alabama Supreme Court‘s ruling that frozen embryos were legally considered children. Due to the court decision, however, she said, “no health care provider will be willing to provide treatment if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges.”

“I was personally harmed by Donald Trump’s attacks on IVF,” Beasley said. “Our dreams of growing our family was stopped dead in its tracks.”

Harris and vice presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz’s campaign announced Friday morning a reproductive freedom bus tour across the battleground states. The “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” tour will kick off in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, September 3 with Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, Republican strategist Ana Navarro, Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and reproductive rights storyteller Anya Cook.

Beasley said she would join the bus tour for a week.

Throughout the tour, others will join the talk, like reproductive rights storytellers Amanda Zurawski, Hadley Duvall and Kaitlyn Joshua. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz will also make appearances.

“This election is about freedom—and the American people want and deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions,” said Harris-Walz Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “Our campaign is hitting the road to meet voters in their communities, underscore the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom, and present them with the Harris-Walz ticket’s vision to move our country forward, which stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s plans to drag us back. As we crisscross the country, we’ll be driving that contrast home to red and blue voters and independents.”

The bus will make at least 50 stops in key states, hitting both blue and red communities. The talks will highlight Harris and Walz’s plan to restore the Roe v Wade protections as well as what Project 2025 agenda entails for abortion, birth control and IVF.

Trump has tried to distance himself from the project, claiming earlier this year that he had nothing to do with it and that some of its ideas were “ridiculous” and “abysmal.”

The Republican platform is pointing to the 14th Amendment in guaranteeing that “no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”

The 16-page document approved by the Republican convention says Republicans “will oppose late term abortion,” a term not used by doctors but politically has referred to abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

The platform also states it will support “mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF.” There is no call for a national legislative abortion ban but does extend the 14th Amendment rights to fetuses, conflicting with IVF.

“He’s not trying to repeal them,” Timmaraju said in the Friday press conference. “In fact, he calls these bans a ‘beautiful thing to watch.’ Trump hugs his anti-IVF allies close.”

“In 2016, Trump ran on a platform that he would overturn Roe v. Wade. He appointed three Supreme Court justices “who fulfilled that promise by ripping away abortion rights,” Warren said at the press conference Friday.

“Trump continues to brag about being ‘proudly the person responsible,'” Warren said.

During his term as president, Trump confirmed a federal judge who was criticized by reproductive rights advocates for her vigorous opposition to abortion, surrogacy and IVF.

His running mate, Vance, voted against IVF protections. The bill, brought to Congress in June, was meant to protect and expand nationwide access to fertility treatment.

“Donald Trump’s own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide. Trump lies as much if not more than he breathes, but voters aren’t stupid,” spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said. “Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women’s freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country. There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.