Donald Trump has sparked outrage from conservatives and liberals after announcing a new nickname.
He bizarrely dubbed himself the ‘father’ of the fertility treatment in-vitro fertilization during a Fox News town hall event that quickly sparked backlash online.
‘We really are the party for IVF,’ Trump told Fox News host Harris Faulkner in front of an all-female audience Tuesday.
He then declared about himself: ‘I’m the father of IVF.’
Trump offered no further explanation on what that meant and his words were quickly ridiculed by Democrats.
He also risks alienating evangelical women who oppose IVF with the strange nickname, a key voting block that his campaign desperately needs to win over before the election.
Donald Trump branded himself the ‘father of IVF’ during a town hall event with women on Tuesday where his flip-flopping on abortion came under intense scrutiny
‘Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF,’ posted his 2024 rival Vice President Kamala Harris.
‘What is he talking about? His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether.’
And Republican strategists were baffled by his response, pointing out that it could alienate elements of his base.
‘I wonder whether Trump saying he’s the ‘father of IVF’ and sounding such a pro-IVF note is going to further alienate pro-life Catholics, especially,’ asked Liz Mair.
‘He keeps saying stuff that gives strongly pro-life people less and less of a reason to bother voting for him.’
Christian Terri Green expressed on X that Trump’s support for the fertility treatment is ‘wrongheaded thinking.’
Saying ‘we want more babies!’ is ‘perverted,’ she went on.
‘Who are these women to make IVF an important issue when it has been a gateway to destroy life and allow gay men to use surrogates as a commodity to have a designer baby,’ she added.
X user Jay Susan, who self identifies as a Roman Catholic, says Trump’s staff should explain to him the ‘evils of IVF.’
During the event Trump branded the GOP as the party for IVF in order to bolster the American family.
‘We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.’
Conservative group Faith & Freedom Coalition Chair Ralph Reed said his organization is fine with IVF.
‘Obviously, there are moral and ethical concerns,’ he went on. But he said ‘we can work through those issues.’
The audience was made up largely of supporters in Cumming, Georgia, a swing state
He brushed off reacting to Trump’s new nickname specifically, but said he’s proud to be in the pro-life party.
Trump has shifted on the issue of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) multiple times as he tries to win over evangelical Republicans and women over the tricky issue of reproductive health.
Some Catholics avoid the practice because of Church teachings that it is immoral and because the practice often involves destruction of human embryos.
Reporters watch as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News town hall with Harris Faulkner at The Reid Barn, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024
The ruling in Alabama opened a whole new field of debate over reproductive rights
A ruling in Alabama earlier this year declaring frozen embryos ‘children’ became a flashpoint for arguments over reproductive rights.
The state supreme court declared that anyone destroying them could be liable for wrongful death.
The Republican-held legislature raced to pass a bill giving providers and parents immunity, but not before it scared doctors out of the state and provided ammunition to Democrats who say conservatives cannot be trusted on the issue.
Trump also made a campaign pledge to require the government to pay for IVF treatments, which was met with an icy reception by many on the far right.
Trump’s alternative to setting out his own policy on abortion, and the point when life begins, has been to say that it was an issue for states to decide.
Yet he also used the town hall to say that some states had gone too far and were ‘too tough’ on restricting abortions. He promised that the regulations would be redone in some way, without providing further details.
A member of the audience, Pamela, asked the former president, ‘Why is the government involved in women’s basic rights?’
And Trump returned to his stock answer, claiming that ‘every legal scholar’ said it was right to send the issue back to the states.
The town hall was filmed on Tuesday evening to be broadcast Wednesday.
