Donald Trump branded himself the ‘father of IVF’ during a town hall event with women where his flip-flopping on the popular fertility treatment and abortion came under intense scrutiny.
Trump has shifted on the issue of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) multiple times as he tries to placate evangelical Republicans and keep female voters onside over the tricky issue of reproductive health.
‘We really are the party for IVF,’ Trump told Fox News host Harris Faulkner in a preview clip of the town hall on Tuesday.
‘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. So, we’re totally in favor.’
He also bizarrely declared about himself: ‘I’m the father of IVF.’
Trump offered no further explanation on what that meant, given he had nothing to do with the development of the procedure, and his words were met with ridicule.
His rival in the 2024 presidential race seized on the comments.
‘Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF,’ posted Vice President Kamala Harris.
‘What is he talking about? His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether.’
And Republican strategists were baffled by his response, pointing out that it could alienate elements of his base.
‘I wonder whether Trump saying he’s the ‘father of IVF’ and sounding such a pro-IVF note is going to further alienate pro-life Catholics, especially,’ asked Liz Mair.
‘He keeps saying stuff that gives strongly pro-life people less and less of a reason to bother voting for him.’
Some Catholics avoid the practice because of Church teachings that it is immoral.
A ruling in Alabama earlier this year declaring frozen embryos ‘children’ became a flashpoint for arguments over reproductive rights.
The state supreme court declared that anyone destroying them could be liable for wrongful death.
The Republican-held legislature raced to pass a bill giving providers and parents immunity, but not before it scared doctors out of the state and provided ammunition to Democrats who say conservatives cannot be trusted on the issue.
Trump’s alternative to setting out his own policy on abortion, and the point when life begins, has been to say that it was an issue for states to decide.
Yet he also used the town hall to say that some states had gone too far and were ‘too tough’ on restricting abortions. He promised that the regulations would be redone in some way, without providing further details.
A member of the audience, Pamela, asked the former president, ‘Why is the government involved in women’s basic rights?’
And Trump returned to his stock answer, claiming that ‘every legal scholar’ said it was right to send the issue back to the states.
The town hall was filmed on Tuesday evening to be broadcast Wednesday.