Donald Trump is desperate to change the news cycle from his constant disrespect of American service members, veterans, and their families. In a Hail Mary move, Trump tried to distance himself from the anti-IVF movement, but his ties to anti-IVF extremists run deep.
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As president, Donald Trump’s administration made it harder to access IVF.
- In 2019, Trump proposed the “denial-of-care” rule, which allowed health care workers to deny patients care based on their personal moral or religious beliefs.
- Advocates warned that this would translate to health care workers denying IVF access to single women and people in the LGBTQ+ community.
- Trump’s State Department denied U.S. citizenship to children born out of the country through surrogacy or IVF.
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During his campaigns and presidency, Donald Trump consistently met with and praised anti-IVF advocates.
- Trump twice met with Tom Parker, the Alabama Supreme Court justice who authored the anti-IVF opinion.
- Trump praised Lila Rose, the founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, who also celebrated the Alabama Supreme Court ruling against IVF.
- Rose likened IVF protections granted by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to giving doctors “a license to kill.”
- Trump hosted Rose at the White House for a 2019 summit on abortion.
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Trump’s federal judicial nominee Sarah Pitlyk argued that embryos should be treated as humans.
- Before her appointment to the federal judiciary, Pitlyk worked for the Thomas More Society which argued that embryos created through the IVF process were humans, and therefore, were entitled to the same rights as living individuals.
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Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett refused to answer whether a ban on IVF would be constitutional.
- Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Barrett publicly supported a group that sought to criminalize IVF.
- Barrett supported the St. Joseph’s County Right to Life, whose executive director espoused his opposition to IVF treatments.
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Donald Trump appointed IVF opponent Tim Wildmon to his faith advisory council.
- Wildmon was president of the anti-abortion group the American Family Association which opposed a Mississippi bill that would have protected IVF access.
- Wildmon claimed that IVF access would lead to human cloning, three-parent households, animal-human hybrids, and designer babies.
Published: Aug 29, 2024 | Last Modified: Oct 16, 2024