FLASHBACK: Trump seeks to expand fertility coverage, after Tim Walz once accused him of being ‘anti-IVF’

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requesting the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, more affordable and accessible for Americans – despite the fact Democrats cautioned that Trump would seek to ban the procedure. 

“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 executive order said. “Providing support, awareness, and access to affordable fertility treatments can help these families navigate their path to parenthood with hope and confidence.”

Specifically, the order requires the assistant to the president for domestic policy to provide a list of policy recommendations aimed at “protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment” within 90 days, according to the order. 

‘PROMISES KEPT’: TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ MAKE IVF MORE AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 18, 2025, to make in vitro fertilization more affordable and accessible. (Getty Images)

The directive comes months after former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 election against Trump, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, accused the Trump administration of being “anti-IVF.” 

Specifically, Walz singled out Trump’s running mate, then-Sen. JD Vance, a practicing Catholic who voted in June against the Right to IVF Act. The Catholic Church opposes IVF, saying unused embryos pose a moral dilemma. 

But Vance said in August 2024 he doesn’t believe all his religious views should translate to public policy since the U.S. is a “democratic society,” he told the New York Post. 

“Catholic social teaching is obviously very robust,” he told the Post. “I think that no person who, or at least no one I know who’s Catholic, doesn’t accept that just because the Catholic Church teaches something, doesn’t mean you necessarily as a legislator need to affect that to public policy.” 

The Right to IVF measure would establish a nationwide right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology, but it failed to pass in the Senate. 

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“JD Vance opposing the miracle of IVF is a direct attack on my family and so many others,” Walz said in a social media post on X in July 2024. 

Walz previously claimed that he and his wife, Gwen, struggled to conceive and shared details during the 2024 campaign about the couple’s experience using IVF to become pregnant with their two children. 

But Gwen Walz later clarified in August 2024 in an interview with Glamour magazine that the couple actually used intrauterine insemination, known as IUI, to conceive. The process involves using a catheter to place the sperm directly into the uterus to increase odds of conception. 

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JD Vance and Tim Walz sparred over statements regarding in vitro fertilization during the 2024 campaign. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

In contrast, IVF requires the removal of a woman’s eggs and injecting them with sperm to create embryos, which then are placed back into the woman’s uterus. 

More than 85,000 babies born in 2021 were from IVF, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Costly IVF treatments are rarely fully covered by health insurance, and only 25% of employers report providing coverage to their employees, according to the White House.

Trump unveiled plans in August 2024 that he’d seek to require insurance companies to cover the cost of IVF, stating he was pushing the policy “because we want more babies, to put it nicely.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.