Trump Probably Doesn't Give a Damn About IVF
Donald Trump said he wants the government or insurers to pay for in vitro fertilization treatments. For those lacking coverage, the American taxpayer would presumably pick up the entire cost.
Then, just this week, House Republicans blocked a bill that would have guaranteed a basic right -- never mind who's paying -- to IVF treatments across the nation. Seems like we have a bit of confusion here.
Trump can bully House Republicans to do as he wants. He got them to reject a bipartisan immigration bill that would have immediately brought order to the Southern border. The bill was so conservative, it offered Democrats no concessions on legalizing anyone.
Trump obviously wanted the border to remain chaotic as a campaign issue. And perhaps frustrated that President Joe Biden's subsequent executive order stopped the stampede, he's flogging the lie about pet-eating migrants.
On the issue of reproductive rights, Trump wants peak ambiguity.
His idea of socialized IVF treatments followed the public outcry over efforts in some states to ban them after the Dobbs decision left the matter of abortion to the states. While helping infertile couples have children, IVF also involves the destruction of embryos, thousands and thousands of them.
There is no inherent difference between an embryo formed the old-fashioned way and an embryo created through IVF. And so those who hold that an embryo is a human being and destroying one is murder are being consistent in opposing IVF.
The political problem for Trump is twofold: One is that IVF is a popular solution for infertile couples, and the prospect of banning it is most unpopular. The other is that he is responsible for ending the constitutional right to an abortion, which is how we got here.
Trump may have thought that getting rid of Roe v. Wade -- that is, making abortion a state-level issue -- would be an elegant way of pleasing his "pro-life" supporters while leaving abortion accessible in the more liberal states. What it did, however, was energize anti-abortion activists.
Rather than regard the overturn of Roe as the finish line, many are treating it as the starting gate to ban abortion pills, certain contraceptives and IVF treatments. Some would restrict women's travel across state lines to end a pregnancy. (Nearly one in five women seeking an abortion are now going out of state for such care.)
Trump's game plan is to frustrate any intelligent guess on what access to reproductive care would look like in a second term. Hence, his proposal for socialized IVF. Hence, his letting the Republican House kill a bill guaranteeing access to IVF that he just said government should pay for.
A resident of Florida, Trump said he opposes his state's ban on abortion after six weeks, which is now being challenged in a ballot measure. He said six weeks is "too short." The pro-life side exploded, as you would expect it to, so now Trump says he is voting to keep the six-week ban.
There's been much speculation about how Trump really feels about abortion or IVF. In all likelihood, he doesn't give a damn one way or another.
Such conversations are useless anyway. For Trump, keeping promises is not a high priority. His beleaguered Vice President Mike Pence has called Trump's whiffling and waffling a "slap in the face" to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him.
Trump's strategy is to change the subject to pet-eating and let his nasty sidekick Laura Loomer make ethnic slurs that move the headlines away from reproductive rights. And when he can't wriggle out of stating a position on abortion, he diverts attention into crazy lies about killing newborns.
The presidential campaign of 2024 will never be forgotten.
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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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