Trump Signs Order Expanding IVF 5 Months After Senate Republicans Killed Bill On Floor

President Donald Trump broke from some of his most conservative supporters on Tuesday by signing an executive order directing his administration to pursue ways to reduce the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Just five months after Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly against the Right to IVF Act, Trump appeared at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Fla., to sign an order that "directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments," the White House said.

"These are treatments that have become unaffordable for many Americans, or have been unaffordable for many Americans," said White House Secretary of Staff Will Scarf. "The executive order is a directive to the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable to more Americans."

Trump, the self-proclaimed "Father of IVF" during the 2024 election campaign, issued the order aimed at expanding access and lowering the medical costs associated with IVF. Health insurance companies are not currently required to cover IVF treatments.

"Under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment," Trump said in August -- just one month before the IVF for Life Act.

IVF has faced backlash from some pro-life conservatives, including last year's Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created through IVF should be considered children. Democrats used reproductive rights as a wedge issue appealing to Americans struggling to have children.

"Their opposition to a woman's freedom to make decisions about her own body is extreme, dangerous, and wrong," Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said. "Our administration will always fight to protect reproductive freedoms, which must include access to IVF."

The GOP did damage control dismissing the notion that IVF is a divisive issue for the party, although only two Senate Republicans voted in favor of the IVF for Life Act in September 2024. That was enough to kill the bill, but leaders insist the pro-life party is on board with Trump.

"Republicans support IVF, full stop," said Senate Republican Majority Whip John Thune. "This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try and create a political issue where there isn't one."