At a White House event celebrating Women’s History Month, President Donald Trump introduced a new nickname for himself while discussing his administration’s efforts to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, referring to himself as the “fertilization president.”
“We’re going to have tremendous goodies in the bag for women, too,” Trump said on Wednesday. “The women, between the fertilization and all of the other things that we’re talking about, it’s going to be great.”
His remark was met with laughter from the audience, prompting him to pause before adding:
“Fertilization,” he repeated, as the laughter continued. “I’m still very proud of it. I don’t care. I’ll be known as the fertilization president, and that’s not bad. I’ve been called much worse, and actually, I like it. I like it.”
A video of the moment was shared widely on social media.
Trump has frequently referred to himself as the “father of IVF” throughout his 2024 campaign, making the claim during a town hall for women voters. “Oh, I want to talk about IVF. I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question,” he said at the event.
During the town hall, a woman in the audience expressed concern that abortion bans resulting from the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could impact access to IVF and other fertility treatments. She asked Trump how he would address those fears.
In response, Trump misrepresented a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling, which declared that frozen embryos created through IVF are considered children under state law, potentially opening the door for lawsuits against individuals who destroy them.
Trump said he had sought clarification from Alabama Senator Katie Britt, asking her to “explain IVF … very quickly.”
“And within about two minutes, I understood it,” he said, adding that he told Britt, “We’re totally in favor of IVF.”
Donald Trump
Following the Alabama court ruling, Trump issued a statement on Truth Social reaffirming his stance on the issue:
“Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby.
Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama.”
In February, Trump also signed an executive order instructing officials to provide policy recommendations aimed at protecting IVF access and “aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.”
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump for calling himself the “father of IVF,” telling reporters in October:
“He should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump’s abortion ban state. What he should take responsibility for is that couples who are praying and hoping and working towards growing a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments have now been put at risk.”
She also described Trump’s claim as “quite bizarre.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the president’s actions, writing on X:
“PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT: President Trump just signed an Executive Order to Expand Access to IVF!”
Lucky Sekhon, a fertility doctor based in New York, voiced support for expanding IVF access but cautioned that an executive order alone would not resolve systemic issues in fertility care.
“An executive order alone is not going to fix the deep-rooted issues that we have when it comes to fertility care access,” she said on social media.
Sekhon emphasized that current insurance policies often fail to align with medical recommendations.
“So for this kind of executive order to actually mean something for patients, we would need to see concrete action at both the state and federal levels,” she added.
