Conservative groups are split over whether President Donald Trump‘s administration should take the lead in lowering in vitro fertilization costs through the federal government.
While some groups consider the procedure a lifeline for couples struggling with infertility, others deem IVF and the destruction of unused embryos as taking a life.
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The popularity of IVF among the American public, the sensitivity of discussing how to help families struggling to conceive, and the prevailing differences among anti-abortion groups showcase the complicated path forward the White House faces as it seeks to boost the nation’s fertility rates.
In February, Trump signed an executive order directing the assistant to the president for domestic policy to create policy recommendations on how to lower the costs of IVF within 90 days. Depending on insurance coverage, each cycle for a round of IVF can “range from $12,000 to $25,000,” a steep price for many families.
It was a culmination of his support for the procedure on the campaign trail when he first teased using the government to subsidize IVF and including access to the procedure in the GOP platform during the Republican National Convention.
It’s unclear when the policy recommendations, due on Monday, will be released to the public or whether Congress will even take up any legislation on the issue. The White House did not offer exact timing when asked by the Washington Examiner.
But some antiabortion or religious groups that supported the president’s campaign are wary of the government now embracing IVF and have called for other measures to address infertility.
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“When people tell us that they support IVF, the first thing that we always ask at Students for Life is, what exactly does that mean? Because the current business model as practiced creates disposable children as standard operating procedure,” Kristi Hamrick, the group’s vice president of media and policy, told the Washington Examiner. “And that we absolutely oppose.”
Similarly, Priests for Life National Director Frank Pavone also voiced opposition to IVF, claiming it violates biblical teaching.
Based on Catholic Church teachings, alternative methods of conceiving are only morally legitimate if they “assist natural reproduction rather than replace it,” according to Pavone. “So when you look at IVF, you’re replacing it,” he continued.
Anti-abortion advocates have long called for more regulations on the handling of embryos stored in fertility clinics that may be discarded if not viable. Multiple embryos are produced during each cycle, but some will likely stop developing, and healthy embryos that are transferred to the uterus may not result in a pregnancy. Other unused embryos that are not implanted can be frozen for a future pregnancy or discarded.
The destruction of the embryos, some argue, is tantamount to murder.
“Life has value from the moment of conception, no matter the circumstances. We join our voices to those encouraging President Trump to keep this in mind as he engages in policymaking regarding in-vitro fertilization,” said Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life, in a statement. “We urge him to prioritize protecting human life, and protecting the parents who interact with this largely unregulated industry and have no recourse when things go wrong.”
“SBA Pro-Life America does not object to ethical fertility treatments paired with strong medical safety standards that help couples struggling with infertility,” said the group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We also believe human embryos should not be destroyed.”
Dannenfelser also called for “rogue practitioners” to be held accountable if they fail to follow safety standards. “At a minimum, affordability recommendations provided under this executive order should take into account health and safety protections for parents and embryos,” she also said.
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Warnings about IVF ‘predatory’ practices
Advocates have also cautioned against the high failure rates of IVF, which could give families a false sense of hope.
“We’ve asked the Trump administration, the GOP lawmakers across the country, to slow down and take a look at predatory business practices which prey on people,” added Hamrick.
Yet there are conservative groups in support of IVF who have pushed against criticisms about the destruction of embryos.
In an interview, Americans for IVF advisory board chair Dr. Kaylen Silverberg claimed the likelihood of successful conception for a healthy, fertile woman under 35 years is between 15% to 20% with her male partner.
“In nature, this perfect system fails 80 to 85% of the time. So when people talk to me about destroying embryos, throwing away embryos, there’s no more destructive process for embryos than natural cycles, where there’s no medical intervention whatsoever,” said Silverberg.
“So we are not competing with a system that guarantees a successful, healthy pregnancy at any given month of trying, if there’s no intervention,” he continued. “We’re not damaging that system. We’re not ruining that system. We’re not interfering with that system. We’re augmenting that system.”
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Silverberg also claimed that accusations that the IVF industry is not properly regulated by the federal government are unsubstantiated. There are roughly 13 state and local agencies that the Texas Fertility Center’s practices in Austin, San Antonio, and New Braunfels, Texas, where he serves as medical director and managing partner, have to comply with, he said.
“Between federal government, state government, licensing agencies, medical societies, I mean, we are regulated extraordinarily highly,” said Silverberg. “And people who say, ‘this is the wild west or there’s no regulation,’ … I mean, with all due respect, they just are poorly informed.”
Alabama Supreme Court ruling put IVF politics into focus
Conservatives have walked a fine line on voicing support for the IVF while hoping to placate the antiabortion wing of the GOP, who denounce the practice.
After an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last year claimed that embryos were human children, GOP lawmakers rushed to distance themselves from the ruling as uproar spread. Eventually, Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) signed a law protecting IVF patients from legal problems following the ruling.
In September, a Senate bill enshrining federal protections for IVF and insurance coverage failed after Republicans blocked the legislation from advancing. The only Republicans to vote for the bill were Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Yet, support for IVF is broad among the American public.
Polling released earlier this month from Republican firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, on behalf of Americans for IVF, showed 85% of registered voters supported IVF, including 78% of Republicans, 82% of Catholics, 81% of evangelicals, and 80% of voters who identify as “pro-life.” A survey last year from the Pew Research Center showed 70% of Americans said IVF is a good thing, while 8% said it is a bad thing, and 22% were unsure.
Any further actions to lower the costs of IVF are likely to play well with the public, even as Trump is facing conservative frustration over the Department of Justice’s defending regulations that allow abortion pills to be sold online and by mail.
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Alternatives to IVF that Trump could spotlight
But conservatives are also hoping the White House will look to other alternatives to boost fertility.
“What we would propose, if the administration is going to look carefully at funding ways to help couples deal with infertility, instead of going down the route of IVF, I would recommend NaPro Technology,” said Pavone, with Priests for Life.
The IVF-alternative procedure aligns with Catholic teaching, according to Pavone, and costs thousands of dollars less than IVF. Natural procreative technology, or NaPro, treats underlying issues that can contribute to infertility and charting a woman’s cycle to decide when she is most fertile.
Students for Life is pushing for a public campaign to help families understand the facts about when women are most likely to have children, likely under the age of 35. “I think that the Trump administration should not lift up IVF as a cure to infertility, but should take a step back and should address the causes of infertility,” said Hamrick.
Alternatively, Americans for Life is pushing for Trump to use his executive privileges to include IVF through the Affordable Care Act.
“We believe that the president, for a variety of different reasons and a variety of different legal justifications, can declare infertility and fertility treatment to be an essential health benefit, and include it in the Affordable Care Act,” said Silverberg. “The president campaigned on wanting to improve Obamacare, and this is a great way to improve Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act.”
Despite the complicated disagreement for or against IVF, many advocates touted the Trump White House’s seriousness in addressing the nation’s birth rate and helping infertile families conceive. The U.S. birth rate continued to languish, according to an April report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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More than 3.6 million babies were born in 2024, barely above the record low rate in 2023 of roughly 3.59 million babies in the U.S. The total fertility rate was roughly 1.6 births per 1,000 women in 2024, below the 2.1 births replacement rate needed to maintain the current U.S. population by births alone.
“We are in touch with them and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and it’s amazing what’s going on all over the world … how serious and how engaged the White House is on this issue,” said Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, president of Americans for IVF.