PA congresswomen call out Trump’s lies after he flip-flops on IVF treatments

Four of Pennsylvania’s Democratic congresswomen criticized former President Donald Trump for flip-flopping on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in order to gain support. They see it as a cynical ploy to win back voters. 

A group of Pennsylvania congresswomen aren’t convinced that former President Donald Trump is serious when he said would pay for all in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments if elected in 2024. 

Instead they referred to Trump as a “grifter,” an “opportunistic flip-flopper” and a “chameleon” that is running scared from his party’s platform, which would ban IVF and grant rights to unborn fetuses, during a blistering virtual press conference on Friday. 

The themes from Thursday’s press conference mirror those laid out by Vice President Kamala Harris during last week’s convention that Trump’s most recent change of heart is only to serve himself. 

“I would point out that Donald Trump’s own platform linked on his campaign website, and unless it’s been scrubbed in the last 24 hours, would effectively ban IVF by establishing this so-called fetal personhood. It’s just inconsistent with its own position,” Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-Lehigh) told reporters.

“It’s one thing to evolve, it’s another to state inherently inconsistent positions.”

So far this year, Wild has introduced legislation that would codify IVF rights and protect access to IVF nationally, and introduced a bill that would mandate employers to cover the costs of IVF treatments, which cost families between $15,000 to $30,000 per round of IVF treatment. 

Recent polling is showing Vice President Kamala Harris gaining momentum in most of the important swing states in the upcoming election, and Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery) believes Trump is running scared. 

“Mr. Trump has shown an inability to evolve,” Dean said. 

“He shifts like a chameleon if he thinks it will serve him, and right now, what we see with – the statement in and of itself – shows us that he’s running scared. He doesn’t realize or he does realize he’s losing in this campaign.”

The congresswomen warn that because of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, other forms of reproductive healthcare are under attack. This includes IVF and the right to access birth control. 

“When I first read Justice Thomas’s opinion in Dobbs, I couldn’t help but think that he and the court had opened the doors to a wave of attacks on far more than just the right to get an abortion,” Wild said.

“I almost immediately started working with my legislative team to craft a bill that has become the Right to IVF Act, the only bill that would protect every hopeful parent’s right to start or grow their families.”