Donald Trump signs new executive order aiming to have major impact on IVF
Donald Trump made a number of promises regarding IVF access in the United States as part of a new executive order signed earlier this week.
The 78-year-old president's latest move saw the cost of the procedure - which enables LGBTQ+ couples, couples facing infertility and single people, to create a family - debated in the White House, and a number of pledges made.
IVF became a big talking point during Trump's 2024 presidential campaign as the debate around the increasingly common treatment came into the spotlight.
What is IVF?
Known as in vitro fertilisation, the medical procedure is most commonly offered to couples who are struggling to get pregnant.
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It sees the woman's eggs extracted and combined with a man's sperm in a lab dish in a bid to create a fertilised embryo.
This is then transferred into the woman's uterus to create a pregnancy.
IVF is carried out as per the woman's cycle, meaning more than one attempt is usually needed.
The process is also used by LGBTQ+ couples who wish to become parents and are biologically prevented from being able to conceive a child naturally.
In this case, the eggs of a donor are used, with the embryo being carried by a surrogate. Or, in same-sex female relationships, a sperm donor is used and one of the women in the couple carries the child.
The price of the process, however, means that IVF is often used as last resort after other fertility treatments fail.
Trump's new IVF executive order
This week, Trump has chimed in on IVF accessibility and its extreme costs, vowing to make the process more affordable.
According to a message directly from the White House, the politician explained: "Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000."
The policy continues: "Providing support, awareness, and access to affordable fertility treatments can help these families navigate their path to parenthood with hope and confidence."
Trump's new executive order also issued a request to the assistant to the president for domestic policy for a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access.
He also hoped that this instruction could 'aggressively' reduce 'out-of-pocket and health plan costs' for treatment within a 90-day period.
IVF and insurance: how available is the treatment?
Depending on the firm providing it to a couple, insurance coverage for IVF can be a difficult realm to navigate.
Larger companies in the States tend to offer this coverage in a bid to attract future employees and retain existing ones.
According to AP, in recent years, more and more employers have also been offering coverage for infertility diagnoses, which mean that LGBTQ+ couples and single women can feel assured.
In smaller companies, however, insurance coverage is considerably less common.
This lack of widespread coverage, however, has created a nationwide divide, being that couples who miss out are often forced to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Recent debate on IVF
Trump's latest promise comes after the process became a significant talking point in the state of Alabama, after leaders agreed last year to protect IVF providers from legal liability after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.
Margaret Marsh - a history professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey - recently told press that the American anti-abortion movement, which is against IVF on the basis that embryos are often lost in the process, never went away, despite its popularity surging in recent years.
The 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade - which constitutionally protected a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy - she says, had a part to play in why more and more people have been taking the anti-IVF stance.
"Not everyone in the anti-abortion movement opposes these reproductive technologies, but many do," Marsh told AP.
Last year, however, Trump declared that he supported availability to IVF.
In June, a poll conducted by the The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found that 6/10 US adults supported the notion that IVF was a process that deserved protection.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Parenting, Pregnancy
Rhianna Benson