President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday expanding access to in vitro fertilization for families, fulfilling a campaign promise he made last year.
The executive order, one of three actions he signed at Mar-a-Lago, directs policy recommendations on the affordability and availability of IVF and other fertility treatments.
“The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on X.
The order states that “as many as one in seven are unable to conceive a child,” with treatment costing anywhere between $12,000 to $25,000.
“Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall submit to the President a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment,” the order states.
While campaigning for the White House last year, Trump claimed that he would direct the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF, a costly procedure for families struggling to conceive, as he sought to win over the female vote.
“We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump told NBC News in August. “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”
During a campaign rally in the battleground state of Potterville, Michigan, last year, Trump again said the government or insurance companies would pay for the procedure under his second administration.
“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely, and for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes,” Trump said. “So that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able … so we’re pro-family. Nobody’s ever said that before. But the IVF treatments are expensive. It’s very hard for many people to do it and to get it.”
Democrats sought to paint Trump as the anti-women candidate in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned and after Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, temporarily blocking the procedure in the state in 2024.
However, Trump and Vice President JD Vance said the GOP is the pro-family party, with both championing the March for Life rally this year.
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Although the executive order does not directly pay for IVF, it’s a beginning action to ease the financial burden for families.
It’s unclear whether the Trump administration will pressure the GOP-controlled Congress to pass legislation requiring health insurance companies to pay for IVF, which they are not currently required by law to do.
Trump also signed two other orders, including a memorandum that stipulates “radical transparency requirements” for government departments and agencies on wasteful spending and an executive order establishing oversight functions in the Office of Management and Budget and its subsidiary office supervising independent agencies.
