Donald Trump was criticized for declaring himself the ‘father of IVF’: ‘We want fertilization’

‘Let’s not be distracted by his choice of words. The reality is actually very damaging to women and families in America,” Vice President Kamala Harris responded

Donald Trump proclaimed himself the “father of IVF” during a Fox News town hall in Cumming, Georgia, on Tuesday, October 15.

The former president, 78, said The Faulkner Focus host Harris Faulkner said he wanted to “talk about IVF” during the town hall. “We are truly the party for IVF,” Trump told CNN. “We want conception, and it is totally, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we are there on IVF, even more than them. So we are fully in favor of it.”

Trump’s comments follow the jeopardy of fertility treatments following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (In vitro fertilization “is the most effective type of fertility treatment that involves handling eggs, embryos, and sperm,” according to the Mayo Clinic.)

Related: Donald Trump tells women they will ‘stop thinking about abortion’ if he wins the presidency

Trump’s recent comments come amid ongoing conversations about IVF in the 2024 presidential campaigns. The discussion follows the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling in February 2024 that frozen embryos are now legally considered children

Since then, Republicans in Congress have voted in both June and September to block bills that would protect the legality of IVF and insurance coverage for the fertility treatment, which Trump has stated he would support.New York Times.

“Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF.’ What is he talking about?” Vice President Kamala Harris responded in a Tuesday post on X (formerly known as Twitter). “His abortion bans have already threatened access to them in states across the country — and his own platform could end IVF altogether.”

After her initial reaction, Harris, 59, told reporters on Wednesday, October 16, that Trump’s statement was “pretty bizarre,” according to CBS News. “What a man takes responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a state where Trump has an abortion ban,” she said.

“What he needs to take responsibility for is that couples who pray, hope and work to grow a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments have now been compromised.”

“Let’s not be distracted by his choice of words,” she said, adding: “The reality is actually very damaging to women and families in America.”

Related: Jimmy Carter Grants Last Wish by Casting Vote for Kamala Harris: ‘It Was a Good Morning for Him’

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One reporter followed up by asking the vice president if Trump should be given a cognitive test.

“I’m going to say what I’ve said publicly and what I’ve said many times based on my observations. Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unstable, and as has been said by people who worked closely with him even when he was president,” she said. “He is unfit to be president of the United States.”

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