Pray for an end to IVF and the protection of human embryos: Join our prayer pledge
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration is abandoning proposals to mandate coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) through executive action, according to a new report, but says it remains committed to expanding “access” to the embryo-destructive practice in some way.
After an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos qualified as children under state law thrust the issue into the national spotlight last year, most national Republicans rushed to declare their support for IVF (with just a handful of exceptions). Leading the charge was President Donald Trump, who cast himself as a “leader on fertilization” and even promised to enact a new federal entitlement to IVF, whether through direct subsidy or insurance mandate (though he also suggested he would support religious exemptions to the latter).
In February, Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to brainstorm administrative action and policy recommendations to strengthen IVF “access” and “affordability,” though not yet committing to a specific policy. In May, the White House was preparing a report on ways to combat infertility, and as part of those discussions weighed a slate of policy ideas, including adding IVF coverage to U.S. military health insurance, declaring IVF an “essential health benefit” that must be covered under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and calling on Congress to enact a federal mandate for private insurance companies to cover IVF.
On Friday, however, CBS News reported that Trump’s February executive order’s 90-day deadline came and went on May 19 with no final decision, yet the administration had no comment on the matter.
On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that an administration official informed the paper that unilaterally mandating IVF as an essential health benefit is no longer in consideration, as the administration now recognizes the president lacks the authority to do so without an act of Congress. Expanding IVF access is still a “huge priority” for Trump, however, according to the source.
“How do you do this without burdening health insurers? That’s the key question they’ve been wrestling with,” another source “familiar with the discussions” was quoted as saying. “It appears for now that they’re not going to go there.”
“President Trump pledged to expand access to fertility treatments for Americans who are struggling to start families,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Post in response. “The Administration is committed like none before it to using its authorities to deliver on this pledge.”
While the news does not fully resolve concerns about the Trump administration supporting IVF in some way, several pro-lifers expressed relief that it has been dissuaded from pursuing the most extreme version of such a policy:
This is a WIN.
Not only does subsidized IVF fail to increase birth rates, it also:
– conflicts with MAHA priorities
– violates the administration’s strong pro-life track record
– Undermines mother/father families
#GoodTrump https://t.co/lViUdoeHnU— Katy Faust (@Advo_Katy) August 3, 2025
This is very good news: The Trump administration is backing off its most aggressive IVF campaign policy proposals. Social conservatives should be grateful that the White House has been listening to the concerns of social conservatives. https://t.co/HyweE8r06E
— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) August 3, 2025
Good news, if true. And who’s more likely to have gotten a politician to abandon this gravely immoral but popular policy, which he loudly and repeatedly pushed for? Those among his pro-life base who kept silent and cravenly acquiesced to it? Or pro-lifers who loudly protested it? https://t.co/wztjvE39U1
— Edward Feser (@FeserEdward) August 4, 2025
The IVF process is gravely unethical, as it entails the conscious creation of scores of “excess” embryonic humans only to be killed and human lives being treated like commodities to be bartered over. It has been estimated that more than a million embryos are frozen in storage in the United States following IVF, and that as many as 93 percent of all embryos created through IVF are eventually destroyed. A 2019 NBC News profile of Florida IVF practitioner Craig Sweet acknowledged that his practice has discarded or abandoned approximately a third of the embryos it places in cold storage.
Pray for an end to IVF and the protection of human embryos: Join our prayer pledge
