2024 US election updates: Harris calls Trump's IVF remarks before Fox interview 'bizarre'

Holly Honderich
US reporter

Even before Donald Trump's town hall aired today, his pre-recorded comments about IVF (in vitro fertilization) made headlines.

The Republican declared himself the “father” of IVF before saying he had asked Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama to explain what it was.

“I said explain IVF very quickly,” Trump tells Fox News host Harris Faulkner. “And within about two minutes I understood that we were all for IVF.”

Republicans have been struggling for months to navigate the process after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were “unborn children” and that a person could be held liable for accidentally destroying those embryos.

The decision opened a new front in the battle over reproductive health. IVF, like abortion, is supported by the majority of Americans, external. But the procedure is opposed by some social conservatives who make up the Republican base because it can involve the destruction of embryos.

Given these numbers, Trump has tried in recent months to voice his support for IVF, even promising to make the procedure free for all Americans — something not even Democrats have offered.

But critics say Trump's support is hollow, pointing to his support for state abortion bans that in some cases could threaten IVF in the country.