Only 7% of the embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures eventually lead to pregnancy, meaning 93% of these children eventually die. They are either discarded, frozen, or donated to research.
Despite these facts and fierce opposition from pro-life advocates, President Trump announced a series of pro-IVF measures on May 11, Mother’s Day.
In part of the president’s effort to “expand access to IVF and fertility care,” the federal government is proposing regulations that will likely increase the use of IVF in the United States. The proposed rules, which are available for public comment until January 13, 2026, would vastly increase insurance benefits for IVF.
Employers will be able to offer “standalone” coverage of IVF as a health benefit, similar to vision or dental plans, with a lifetime cap of up to $120,000 dollars.
As an expected health benefit, the IVF coverage would be generally exempt from complex regulations. Employers would likely be motivated to offer this “perk” of standalone coverage to attract certain talent for hire and convey an image of being “pro-family” without having to restructure their existing insurance coverage for employees.
The proposed rule describes IVF as “one of the most effective” assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for treating infertility, but there is nothing inherent about IVF that actually treats root causes of infertility.
“These proposed rules are generally intended to provide employers and health insurance issuers with flexibility to cover a broad spectrum of treatments and interventions for fertility-related and pre-conception care as part of the expected fertility benefit,” the proposed rule explanation reads. “The Departments believe allowing employers and health insurance issuers this flexibility creates the opportunity for fertility benefits to help individuals address their specific fertility needs, regardless of whether they need pre-conception care related to the underlying cause of infertility or more invasive treatments and procedures, like IVF.”
🚨 NOW: President Trump announced his admin will be creating a FERTILITY BENEFIT OPTION for employers to offer outside of normal healthcare plans
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 11, 2026
“This will be a major help for millions of Americans moms, and result in more beautiful American babies!”
Make babies, folks! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Kb3neMggxy
Further, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “is considering whether the final rules should adopt similar standards for the individual market to reduce regulatory burden and promote access to fertility coverage for individuals and their dependents.”
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia already mandate IVF coverage, so these proposed rules affect the remaining states.
The proposal acknowledges that “32,545 State and local government employer-sponsored plans, in addition to 490,266 private sector employer-sponsored plans” could be affected by the proposed rules, totaling 522,811 plans and entities. This covers an estimated 54.4 million plan participants, and about half of those are women between the ages of 25 and 45, the demographic expected to utilize these services the most.
Based on their own statistical analysis, more than 743,000 individuals are predicted to take advantage of the IVF “perks” proposed in this rule. On average, at least 5-10 embryos are created per IVF cycle. If the estimated 743,361 plan beneficiaries pursue just one IVF cycle, that means anywhere from 3.7 to 7.4 million embryos (or more) could be created. Most of them would never make it to pregnancy.
Many pro-life advocates are frustrated with the president. Catholic apologist Dr. Taylor Marshall wrote, “Trump is promoting abortion and IVF…the murder of millions of human babies. But why?”
Marshall’s comment on abortion refers to the July 4 deadline for Congress to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, after which their funding will resume. On May 11, the president addressed the issue, saying, “Congress is now negotiating. We’ve been very good for the people that want it, for the people that are here, and we’ll see how that goes. It’s been a very thorny—to put it mildly, it’s been a very thorny issue. It’s all under negotiation right now.”
Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom organization, wrote, “IVF is not MAHA. IVF is not pro-life. The Trump Administration should reverse course on eugenic policies that treat children as commodities.”
John Yep, president of Catholics for Catholics, issued the following statement:
“Simply put, IVF is not pro-life, and it certainly does not address the root cause of infertility. We are encouraging members of the public to leave a public comment on these proposed regulations expressing deep concern and opposition to this expansion of the death culture. We urge President Trump and Congress to listen to the pro-life bloc that played an instrumental role in getting them elected.”
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