President Donald Trump announced measures on Thursday to reduce the price of in vitro fertilization and infertility treatments, incorporating input from pro-life advocates. The plan includes optional employer insurance coverage for IVF and a new agreement with pharmaceutical firm EMD Serono for discounted fertility drugs. Pro-life groups expressed relief that the policy avoids mandates or subsidies.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump spoke from the Oval Office in Washington, unveiling a plan aimed at making IVF and infertility treatments more affordable for American families. The administration issued guidance allowing employers to optionally include IVF coverage in company insurance plans, addressing concerns from religious freedom and pro-life advocates who view IVF as unethical due to the creation and destruction of embryos.
Trump also disclosed a third agreement with EMD Serono, a major fertility drug manufacturer, promising significant savings. Under the deal, the drug GONAL-F will be available directly from TrumpRx.gov at a discount amounting to 796% of the deal price, with low- and middle-income women receiving an additional 2,320% discount. This could save women about $2,200 per cycle, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates.
EMD Serono committed to manufacturing IVF drugs in the United States for the first time, offering deep discounts on direct sales to patients, guaranteeing most-favored-nation prices on new medicines, repatriating foreign revenue, and providing Medicaid programs access to these prices. "In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for couples to have babies, raise children, and start the families they’ve always dreamed of," Trump said.
Libby Horne, Senior VP of U.S. Fertility & Endocrinology at EMD Serono, stated in the Oval Office: "Today, EMD Serono is proud to help President Trump deliver on his promise to you... Americans will have access to our leading IVF therapies for an 84% discount off list prices."
The policy emerged after consultations with pro-life groups and proponents of restorative reproductive medicine, which focuses on treating underlying causes of infertility like endometriosis or low sperm count. Nearly 18% of the global adult population faces infertility, and June polling by the Heritage Foundation and JLL Partners showed over half of Americans prefer addressing root causes before IVF, with aversion to embryo destruction.
Pro-life leaders reacted with mixed feelings. Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called it "the least bad that we could have hoped for," noting no IVF mandate or direct subsidies, avoiding echoes of the Obama-era contraception mandate. One anonymous pro-life leader told The Daily Wire: "It was bad but not nearly as bad as it could have been... No subsidy and no mandate is a lot different [than] he sounded last fall."
Roger Severino of the Heritage Foundation highlighted the expansion to root-cause treatments: "It expands access to infertility cures that treat root causes & should cover restorative reproductive medicine. That’s huge and very MAHA." Trump affirmed plans for equal access to such treatments, while Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced the Department of Labor's intent to reopen rulemaking for more flexibility in benefits.