IVF is supposedly key to Trump’s campaign. JD Vance didn’t even show up to vote on it

During his debate with Kamala Harris last week, former president Donald Trump said that “I have been a leader on fertilization” — and what he meant by that was in vitro fertilization treatment, otherwise known as IVF. The former president promised before the debate that either the federal government or insurance would cover the cost of IVF if he got a second term in the White House.

This all seemed a little convenient, considering it was Trump who put IVF in jeopardy. His confirmation of ultra-conservative judges to the Supreme Court led to the overturn of Roe v Wade with the Dobbs decision, which then in turn led a court in Alabama to declare embryos humans. If embryos are humans, of course, then IVF is untenable.

All of this caused a big political headache for Trump, which led to his knee-jerk policy proposal of Obamacare-style IVF for all. Needless to say, Republicans themselves — many of whom are evangelicals who don’t believe in IVF — were not so happy to hear about it.

This rift among members of the GOP has become especially problematic recently. So this week, Democrats decided to call Republicans’ bluff by having a vote on legislation to cover the cost of IVF.

“Just several weeks ago, Donald Trump said that he thought that we should have IVF for everyone,” Senator Tina Smith told The Independent. “He's all talk and no action, and these Republicans in the Senate follow his lead, but they never show up.”

Unsurprisingly, most Republicans opposed the motion. But what is more surprising is who did not vote at all: Trump’s running mate and man on the Hill, Senator JD Vance of Ohio.

“It seems like an important vote,” Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who had to split her time between the campaign trail and the