Highlights:
Trump: “We Want To Make It Easier For Mothers And Fathers To Have Babies […] That Includes Supporting The Availability Of Fertility Treatments Like IVF In Every State In America.” According to Trump’s Truth Social Account, “Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.” [Truth Social @realDonaldTrump, 2/23/24]
Trump: “I Strongly Support The Availability Of IVF For Couples Who Are Trying To Have A Precious Baby.” According to Trump’s Truth Social Account, “Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.!” [Truth Social @realDonaldTrump, 2/23/24]
December 2019: Senate Republicans Confirmed Sarah Pitlyk, A Trump Nominee, To A District Court. According to the Washington Post, “The latest of President Trump’s confirmed federal judges has been assailed by fellow lawyers for her lack of trial experience and has been lambasted by reproductive rights advocates for her vigorous opposition to abortion, surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. And in a near-party-line vote Tuesday, the Senate approved the nomination of Sarah Pitlyk, making the conservative lawyer the newest federal judge for the U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined the Democrats to oppose Pitlyk. Every other Republican present voted for her.” [Washington Post, 12/4/19]
Pitlyk Argued That Embryos Should Be Treated As Humans. According to HuffPost, “Sarah Pitlyk, who was deemed ‘not qualified’ by the American Bar Association, wrote in multiple rulings that states should treat embryos as humans.” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
CAP: Arguments That Embryos Have The Same Rights As Humans Would Allow “Legal Action To Be Taken Against Medical Professionals Performing In Vitro Fertilization.” According to the Center for American Progress, “On February 16, 2024, the Alabama state Supreme Court issued a first-of-its-kind decision that overruled a lower court’s dismissal and held that stored embryos are afforded the same legal protection as children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act of 1872. The practical impact of the decision is that it allows legal action to be taken against medical professionals performing in vitro fertilization, which involves a series of medical procedures that can potentially lead to a pregnancy.” [Center for American Progress, 3/11/24]
Pitlyk Was A Special Counsel For The Thomas More Society. According to the Trump White House Archives, “Sarah Pitlyk is a Special Counsel at the Thomas More Society, where her practice focuses on constitutional and civil rights litigation.” [Trump White House Archives, 8/14/19]
The Thomas More Society Filed A Petition To Certify That Frozen Embryos Were Entitled To Rights Like Any Other Person. According to Above The Law, “What started as your standard run-of-the-mill divorce case may get the attention of the United States Supreme Court. That’s because the Thomas More Society—which is a national public interest law firm that says it’s ‘dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty’—has filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the US Supreme Court. The petition, on behalf of former Colorado resident Mandy Rooks, asks the Court to definitively rule that cryopreserved embryos are human persons, and therefore entitled to all the rights of other, like … born, humans.” [Above The Law, 2/20/19]
October 2020: The Senate Confirmed Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s Pick For The Supreme Court. According to Politico, “The Senate on Monday voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, handing President Donald Trump a sorely needed win just eight days before the election and solidifying a conservative majority on the high court for a generation.” [Politico, 10/26/20]
Barrett Refused To Comment On The Constitutionality Of A Ban On IVF. According to Newsweek, “A video of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett declining to say whether a ban on in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment would be constitutional during her 2020 confirmation hearing has gone viral on X, formerly Twitter.” [Newsweek, 2/23/24]
Barrett Publicly Supported A Group That Wanted To Criminalize Discarding Frozen Embryos Created During The IVF Process. According to the Guardian, “Amy Coney Barrett, the Trump administration’s supreme court nominee, publicly supported an organization in 2006 that has said life begins at fertilization. It has also said that the discarding of unused or frozen embryos created in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process ought to be criminalized, a view that is considered to be extreme even within the anti-abortion movement.” [Guardian, 10/1/20]
Barret Signed A Letter Sponsored By The St. Joseph County Right To Life, An Extreme Anti-Abortion Group. According to the Guardian, “In 2006, while Barrett worked as a law professor at Notre Dame, she was one of hundreds of people who signed a full-page newspaper advertisement sponsored by St Joseph County Right to Life, an extreme anti-choice group located in the city of South Bend, which is in the region know as Michiana.” [Guardian, 10/1/20]
The Executive Director Of St. Joseph County Right To Life Publicly Opposed IVF. According to the Guardian, “In an interview with the Guardian, Jackie Appleman, the executive director of St Joseph County Right to Life, said that the organization’s view on life beginning at fertilization – as opposed to the implantation of an embryo or a fetus being viable – did have implications for in vitro fertilization, which usually involves the creation of multiple embryos. ‘Whether embryos are implanted in the woman and then selectively reduced or it’s done in a petri dish and then discarded, you’re still ending a new human life at that point and we do oppose that,’ Appleman said, adding that the discarding of embryos during the IVF process was equal to the act of having an abortion.” [Guardian, 10/1/20]
Trump Appointed Tim Wildmon To Serve On His Faith Advisory Council. According to HuffPost, “During his time as president, Trump appointed several extreme anti-IVF advocates to positions of power, including Tim Wildmon, who served on the Trump administration’s faith advisory council.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Wildmon Was President Of The American Family Association, Which Opposed A Mississippi Bill Aimed At Protecting IVF. According to HuffPost, “Wildmon is the president of the American Family Association, an extreme anti-abortion organization that just last week opposed a Mississippi bill aimed at protecting IVF because it would open the door to ‘procedures like human cloning, designer babies, three-parent babies and even human-animal hybrids.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Wildmon Said He Opposed The Mississippi IVF Bill Because It Would Open The Door To “Procedures Like Human Cloning, Designer Babies, Three-Parent Babies And Even Human-Animal Hybrids.” According to the HuffPost, “Wildmon is the president of the American Family Association, an extreme anti-abortion organization that just last week opposed a Mississippi bill aimed at protecting IVF because it would open the door to ‘procedures like human cloning, designer babies, three-parent babies and even human-animal hybrids.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Trump Hosted Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker . According to HuffPost, “While in the White House, Trump and his administration praised, appointed and worked with some of the nation’s most extreme thought leaders who believe the IVF process is akin to murder. Trump hosted the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who wrote the IVF ruling twice: once during his 2016 campaign and in 2018 at the White House.” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
February 2024: Tom Parker Wrote A Concurring Opinion When The Alabama Supreme Court Ruled That Frozen Embryos Were Considered Children Under State Law. According to the Associated Press, “When the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children under state law, its chief justice had a higher authority in mind. By citing verses from the Bible and Christian theologians in his concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker alarmed advocates for church-state separation, while delighting religious conservatives who oppose abortion.” [Associated Press, 2/23/24]
Days Later, Three IVF Providers In Alabama Suspended Services. According to NBC News, “Less than a week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through in vitro fertilization are considered children, three IVF providers in the state have suspended services as they consider the legal repercussions of the decision.” [NBC News, 2/21/24]
2019: Trump Said He Watched Lila Rose “With Great Admiration.” According to HuffPost, “Trump praised Rose as someone he’s watched ‘with great admiration’ when he introduced her during a 2019 White House summit on abortion.” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Rose Founded The Anti-Abortion Group Live Action. According to HuffPost, “The former president also met multiple times while in office with Lila Rose, president and founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, who recently said she was ‘proud’ of the Alabama Supreme Court for acknowledging that ‘a baby conceived via IVF should have the same legal protections as a baby conceived naturally.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
2024: Rose Said She Was “Proud” Of The Alabama Supreme Court Decision. According to HuffPost, “The former president also met multiple times while in office with Lila Rose, president and founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, who recently said she was ‘proud’ of the Alabama Supreme Court for acknowledging that ‘a baby conceived via IVF should have the same legal protections as a baby conceived naturally.’ Rose’s Live Action, which advocates that life begins at fertilization, likened Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signing IVF protections into law as giving doctors a ‘license to kill.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
2024: Rose Said IVF Protections Gave Doctors A “License To Kill.” According to HuffPost, “The former president also met multiple times while in office with Lila Rose, president and founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, who recently said she was ‘proud’ of the Alabama Supreme Court for acknowledging that ‘a baby conceived via IVF should have the same legal protections as a baby conceived naturally.’ Rose’s Live Action, which advocates that life begins at fertilization, likened Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signing IVF protections into law as giving doctors a ‘license to kill.’” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Trump Proposed A Rule That Allowed Health Care Workers To Refuse Patients On Moral Or Religious Beliefs. According to HuffPost, “As president, Trump proposed a new faith-based rule that would allow health care workers to refuse to care for patients based on moral or religious beliefs. Many progressive organizations quickly filed lawsuits, claiming that the rule would give the go-ahead to medical workers to refuse IVF to single women and LGBTQ+ people.” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Advocates Claimed Trump’s Rule Would Allow Health Care Workers To Refuse IVF To Single Women And LGBTQ+ People. According to HuffPost, “As president, Trump proposed a new faith-based rule that would allow health care workers to refuse to care for patients based on moral or religious beliefs. Many progressive organizations quickly filed lawsuits, claiming that the rule would give the go-ahead to medical workers to refuse IVF to single women and LGBTQ+ people.” [HuffPost, 5/15/24]
Trump’s State Department Denied Citizenship To Children Born Through Surrogacy Or IVF, Even If One Parent Was American. According to France 24, “The United States on Tuesday made it easier to pass citizenship to children born through surrogates or in-vitro fertilization, a move sought by the LGBTQ community after resistance under former president Donald Trump. Under new guidance by President Joe Biden's administration, a child born overseas to a married couple that includes a US citizen will be granted citizenship at birth regardless of whether the genetic relationship is to the American or to his or her spouse. LGBTQ rights groups and Democratic lawmakers had lodged protests after the State Department under Trump denied citizenship to children in which one parent was American.” [France 24, 5/19/21]
Trump’s State Department Defended The Policy In The Courts. According to Axios, “Context: The State Department under Trump defended a long-standing policy that categorized children born abroad via surrogate as ‘out of wedlock’ even when a couple was married. Several same-sex couples sued the agency for their children's citizenship, but the State Department continued to enforce the policy.” [Axios, 5/18/21]
May 2021: The State Department Said It Would Grant U.S. Citizenship To Children Born Abroad Through In-Vitro Fertilization. According to Axios, “The State Department will now grant U.S. citizenship to children born abroad through in vitro fertilization, surrogacy and other assisted reproductive technologies, the agency said Tuesday. Why it matters: The Trump administration had denied citizenship. [Axios, 5/18/21]