Fact Check: DNC Places Billboards in Pennsylvania Claiming Trump Against Access to IVF
CLAIM: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) placed billboards in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, claiming that former President Donald Trump had lied about supporting in vitro fertilization (IVF) and was against it.
VERDICT: False.
On Thursday, during an event in Michigan, Trump announced that if he is elected, the government or people’s healthcare insurance companies would “be mandated to pay” for the “costs associated with IVF treatment.”
“I am announcing today in a major statement, that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment,” Trump announced.
“We want more babies, to put it very nicely,” Trump added. “And, for the same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes, so that parents that have a beautiful baby will be able – so we’re pro-family. Nobody’s ever said that before. But, the IVF treatments are expensive, it’s very hard for many people to do it, and to get it. I’ve been in favor of IVF right from the beginning.”
Despite this, the DNC placed billboards in Johnstown, ahead of Trump’s rally on Friday alleging that Trump had lied and was against IVF, according to the Hill.
“Trump can lie about his position on IVF all he wants, but his own 2024 platform threatens to effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide,” Addy Toevs, a DNC spokesperson told the outlet in a statement. “Trump overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door to the flood of threats we are now witnessing to IVF, with fetal personhood bills prevalent in 19 states and counting.”
One billboard reportedly said, “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 undermines reproductive care and threatens IVF,” according to the outlet.
The former president has previously disavowed Project 2025, despite Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign releasing a recent ad attempting to link Trump to Project 2025.
“Trump overturned Roe, threatening the future of IV,” another billboard says, according to the outlet.
In February, Trump called for the Alabama Legislature to preserve IVF, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were considered to be unborn children.
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social at the time. “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!”
