Will Trump’s plans for free IVF win back women voters?

By Michaela Walters (with Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel)

Donald Trump has announced free IVF for all women in the US should he win the November election. Is this a desperate plea to win back female voters, and if so, will it work?

Read time: 4 minutes

In brief:

• Donald Trump has announced a surprising new campaign policy offering free IVF treatment for all women in the US, likely aimed at winning back female voters who may have been alienated by his anti-abortion stance.
• The policy marks a shift from Trump's previous positions on reproductive rights and contradicts the views of his Vice President pick JD Vance.
• The move is seen as a response to declining poll numbers among women voters and possibly influenced by Democratic VP Tim Walz's personal IVF story.

What’s the story?

In a strange turn of events, the latest policy Donald Trump has announced on the campaign trail is to offer free IVF (In vitro fertilisation) for all women in the US. How it will be paid for isn’t quite settled, with the former president saying either insurance or the government will cover it.

It’s a policy that’s as surprising as it is generous.

Generous, because IVF treatment is hugely expensive in the US (north of $12,000 per cycle) and as Emily Maitlis points out in the latest episode of The News Agents USA, there will be millions of childless American couples who think this could be “the answer to all [their] prayers”.

Surprising, because historically Trump has not been one to champion women's reproductive rights, and his VP-pick JD Vance has previously been publicly against IVF treatment.

When asked about Trump’s latest comments on IVF, Vance “was completely thrown” Emily says.

“You've got this very, very strange relationship now between Trump and Vance, where Trump is going off cuff, saying what he wants, saying what he thinks the crowd needs to hear, and Vance is running around afterwards, shit shoveling.”

Why the change of heart?

One of the biggest problems facing Trump in the run up to the election is the female vote. We know that historically voter turnout amongst women has been higher than mens since 1980.

Trump needs women on side.

But his anti-abortion stance has seen some slip away. Trump bragged about overturning Roe vs Wade, a decision in part made by three justices Trump appointed to the Supreme Court whilst president. Also as president, he supported a federal abortion ban - something he’s now backtracked on, saying he will leave it up to individual states.

“Donald Trump seems to be going in the other direction, because the polls are moving against him,” Jon says.

“Trump’s at risk of alienating huge numbers of women voters, the group that go out in the highest numbers to vote”.

Hence Trump’s problem and hence Trump’s solution; free IVF.

70% of Americans think IVF is a good thing, so while he flips flops and ties himself in knots over his abortion stance, trying to appease all but potentially appeasing none, the IVF policy is a move to court female voters.

“On the one hand, it's a really clever electoral policy,” Emily says.

“On the other hand, it doesn't go with anything that we've heard from Trump over the last four years.”

What’s The News Agents take?

It may also have been Kamala Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz that made Trump feel the pressure to think up this IVF policy.

“I think truly, Trump has been triggered by Tim Walz,” Emily says.

Walz has spoken openly about his and his wife’s infertility and his own attempts at IVF. At the Democratic National Convention (DMC), he told of how the journey led the couple to call their firstborn daughter Hope.

“Now Trump has done a complete 180 turnabout on IVF.”

Trump’s surprise 180 on IVF isn't unusual behavior from the former president.

“That is the complete rerun of the Trump administration from 2016 to 2020,” Jon recalls, “where he would say things off the cuff, and then behind the scenes in the West Wing of the White House, they're going ‘he said what? What have you seen? What he's tweeted?’”.

Will the promise of free IVF be enough to win back women voters, or will concern about Trump’s anti-abortion stance and previous misogyny ‘trump’ any enthusiasm for the policy?

“I think it's going to be very difficult for the Republican ticket to win back the vote of women given all the past statements that we've had,” Jon concludes.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents USA.

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