(AFP) – Donald Trump sought to present himself as the “father of IVF” on Wednesday, as he told an all-female audience at an election campaign event that he supported a fertility treatment that Democrats say he has put under threat. The Republican candidate did not explain what he meant, but his remarks were the latest in a series of conflicting stances he has taken on reproductive rights, a key weakness in his push for the White House.
“I want to talk about IVF. I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question,” Trump told Fox News in the closely-watched swing state of Georgia as the topic turned to in vitro fertilization. “We really are the party for IVF. 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.” Ahead of the November 5 vote, Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris have been reaching beyond their traditional support to woo undecided voters who do not consume traditional media.
The former president was in front of a friendly crowd, but it was still considered a challenging topic as women have been turned off by his statements on reproductive rights and by his campaign more broadly. Trump has been all over the map on the issue in the last 15 years, initially describing himself as “pro-choice” before calling for “some form of punishment” for women seeking abortions. He announced in August that in a second term he would ensure free IVF, provoking a backlash over a procedure that many in the anti-abortion movement want to see curbed. At the same time, he boasts about appointing Supreme Court justices who ended federal protections for abortion access in 2022—although more recently he has begun to worry that Republicans are out of step with voters.
Reproductive rights activists fear that the Supreme Court decision threatens IVF and were given cause by a February ruling in Alabama that frozen embryos could be considered people, leading to several clinics briefly pausing treatments. Harris, who has made the defense of reproductive rights a centerpiece of her election platform, attacked Trump over his claims to support IVF.
“What is he talking about?” Harris said on X. “His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether.” She told reporters on her plane that her opponent should “take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state.” Numerous states have enacted crackdowns on the procedure since the Supreme Court’s ruling, and Trump conceded that some had been “too tough,” pledging that even Republican states would moderate over time.
Georgia, which shattered records on the first day of early voting Tuesday, is one of the country’s most hotly contested battlegrounds, and the election is deadlocked in polling.
– Frankie TAGGART
© 2024 AFP
