Former President Donald Trump called on Alabama lawmakers Friday to preserve in vitro fertilization, a technique used to help people with fertility issues have a child.
Trump’s comments on Friday came after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on in vitro fertilization last week. The state’s highest court ruled that frozen embryos are people. After the ruling, multiple fertility centers in Alabama elected to pause IVF treatments while they reviewed the court’s decision.
Trump said Friday that he supports IVF and asked the Alabama legislature to take action.
“I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama.”
He said that the Republican Party should be making it easier for people to have children.
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families,” Trump wrote. “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.”
He said children were the “ULTIMATE JOY IN LIFE!”
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and the only other candidate still seeking the GOP nomination, said earlier this week that she supported the ruling. She told NBC news that “Embryos, to me, are babies.”
On Thursday, she clarified.
“We don’t want fertility treatment to shut down, we don’t want them to stop doing IVF treatment, we don’t want them to stop doing artificial insemination,” Haley told CNN on Thursday. “But I think this needs to be decided by the people in every state. Don’t take away the rights of these physicians and these parents to have these conversations.”
Some Alabama lawmakers had began efforts to protect IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court decision.
