Trump’s IVF proposal: Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham reveal Republican party’s split

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Donald Trump’s new proposal for the government or insurance companies to be mandated to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for Americans has already divided the Republican party – with two GOP senators giving opposing stances on the matter on Sunday.

The ex-president has been trying to navigate the post-Roe landscape since 2022, with limited success. As his presidential campaign has progressed throughout 2024, 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 ex-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. And 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 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 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.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton — a MAGA populist — said that he could see himself supporting the former president’s plan and added that he thought “most Republicans” would be open to doing so.

“It’s something I’m open to, that most Republicans would be open to,” he said, before adding that he would need to determine the “fiscal impact” of such a proposal first and consider “whether the taxpayer can afford to pay for this, what impact it would have on premiums.”

He went on to claim that to his knowledge, no Republicans in Congress opposed the legality of IVF (a factually untrue statement, whether he knows it or not) and claimed that no state governments made fertility care “unaccessible” — though it was briefly blocked in Alabama earlier this year after a push by conservatives to extend the rights of a human being to unborn fetuses through the courts. That same strategy is being pushed by supporters of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for reshaping the federal government, which is tied to numerous former Trump administration officials.

“In principle, supporting couples who are trying to use IVF or other fertility treatments — I don’t think that’s controversial at all,” Cotton added.

But the same morning that Cotton proclaimed Republicans would be open to Trump’s proposal, Lindsey Graham appeared on ABC’s This Week and immediately dimissed that idea.

Trump, he argued, was trying to show his support for the practice of providing IVF treatments to families seeking to have children. The furthest Graham seemed prepared to go was a hypothetical tax credit for families undergoing IVF but he was firmly opposed to forcing insurance companies to directly fund the procedure. He added that it may be an issue on which Republicans could find “common ground” with Democrats.

“I wouldn’t [support that] because there’s no end to that,” he said. “I think a tax credit for children makes sense, means tested.”

“We’ve been accused — the party has — of being against birth control. We’re not. We’ve been accused of being against IVF treatments. We’re not,” Graham added as his explanation for Trump’s latest announcement.

First, though, he’ll have to find common ground with the rest of his party. Graham remains the lead Senate supporter of efforts to restrict abortion at the national level — an idea the Trump campaign has repeatedly insisted the former president opposes.

JD Vance, Trump’s running mate and Graham’s colleague in the Senate GOP caucus, echoed that opposition last week on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Regardless of how GOP senators and members of Congress come out on the issue of funding for IVF over the next days or weeks, the Republican party will still have to contend with the push by the anti-abortion right to extend “personhood” rights to unborn fetuses through the court system. Many on the far right are looking at the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which voted to overturn Roe v Wade in 2022, as the easiest vessel to achieve their goal of banning abortion and some fertility care nationwide without going through Congress.

The Harris campaign continues to pummel Trump over the twin issues of abortion and IVF as well. Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has talked about his own experiences seeking fertility treatments with his wife as Democrats have argued that Republicans are overreaching into Americans’ personal and private medical choices.

“Donald Trump’s own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide,” Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said on Thursday.

“Trump lies as much if not more than he breathes, but voters aren’t stupid. Because Trump overturned Roe vs. Wade, IVF is already under attack and women’s freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country. There is only one candidate in this race who trusts women and will protect our freedom to make our own health care decisions: Vice President Kamala Harris.”