Trump mocked himself for calling himself “the father of IVF” at the Women’s Town Hall

President Trump is being pilloried for comments aired Wednesday in which the former president called himself “the father of IVF,” referring to the infertility treatments that were briefly made illegal in Alabama earlier this year. The 45th president is trying to convince women that he supports the practice, even though many Republicans in Congress have made clear they would not support protecting the treatment under federal law.

“I want to talk about IVF,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall event aimed at women that was filmed Tuesday and aired Wednesday. “I am the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question.”

The Alabama Supreme Court banned in vitro fertilization under the law in a decision earlier this year Dobbs precedent, which forced the state legislature and governor to pass a new statute guaranteeing access for families in the state. The event raised fears that IVF could be banned by other states, or even by Republicans if they gained control of Washington.

Vice President Harris responded quickly to Trump’s comments on Wednesday. “Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF.’ What is he talking about?’” Ms. Harris wrote on X. “His abortion bans have already threatened access to them in states across the country — and his own platform could end IVF.”

Speaking to reporters at an airport on Wednesday, Ms. Harris called Trump’s comments “pretty bizarre,” adding: “If he meant taking responsibility, then he should take responsibility for the fact that one in the three women in America live in a state where Trump has an abortion ban.”

Governor Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, also spoke out against Trump’s Fox News town hall comments. She and her husband used a separate fertility treatment called IUI to conceive, although Mr Walz at one point claimed the couple had used IVF.

“In fact, and I can hardly believe this … he called himself ‘the father of IVF,’” Ms. Walz said Wednesday at a campaign event in Georgia, drawing boos from the crowd. “More like the father of Georgia’s abortion ban.”

Senator Britt of Alabama was one of the first Republican senators to come out, saying she would try to amend legislation to ensure the procedure remains legal. Her bill, the IVF Protection Act, introduced with Senator Cruz, would strip Medicaid funding from the state that has passed legislation to ban IVF. Ms. Britt’s bill did not receive support from Democrats because she added some exceptions so that religious groups could not be forced to fund or be involved in any way due to moral objections to IVF procedures.

Trump said during his Fox town hall that Ms. Britt had to explain to him what IVF was after her state briefly banned the practice.

“I got a call from Katie Britt – a young, just fantastically attractive person from Alabama. She’s a senator,” he said. “I didn’t know (the courts) were even involved… I said, ‘Explain IVF real quick,’ and within about two minutes I understood.”

Trump has promised that he would not ban IVF as president and has even said that insurance or possibly even the government could be involved in paying for it, although some unforced errors by Republicans have kept the issue in the spotlight. Shortly after the Alabama court ruling, Democrats in the Senate introduced legislation to make IVF accessible nationwide, but it was blocked by Republicans in the House.

When Senator Schumer put a bill up for a vote just a few weeks later, almost every Republican senator voted against it. Senator Vance did not show up to vote.