The ex-president has been trying to navigate the post-Roe v Wade landscape since 2022, with limited success. As his presidential campaign has progressed throughout 2024, Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for appointing Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn federal protections on abortion – while he has simultaneously sought to distance himself from hardline opponents of abortion who are seeking to ban IVF and other fertility treatments, as well as the stricter end of GOP-led proposals to ban abortion at various points during the pregnancy.
Over the past week, the former president made his latest attempt. Speaking to NBC News minutes before taking the stage in Potterville, Michigan, the former president made two announcements on the issue.
First, he put forward a plan to force insurance companies or the federal government to cover the costs of IVF for all Americans. Second, he came out against Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which he said restricted abortion too early into the pregnancy. Campaign aides would clarify over the next few days that this did not mean he would support a ballot measure up for debate this year in Florida that would enshrine abortion access into the state constitution.
Both statements triggered furious responses from within his own party. Anti-abortion groups and supporters of Florida’s conservative governor Ron DeSantis ripped Mr Trump for his supposed betrayal in statements to the press and on social media.
And on Sunday, two Republican senators appearing in separate interviews across NBC and ABC took opposite positions on the pledge by Mr Trump to fund IVF either through public or private means – suggesting that the plan will cause more internal divisions for the right as the general election nears.
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