The GOP Scrambles To Reckon With Trump's Surprise IVF Announcement

Prominent Republicans are trying to figure out how to handle Donald Trump’s latest policy announcement regarding in vitro fertilization.

Over the weekend, a number of GOP leaders reacted to Trump recently announcing he’d make insurance companies cover the costly fertility treatment if he’s elected as president.

“Under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Thursday. “Or we’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”

During a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he and “most” other Republicans “would be open to” making insurance companies cover IVF, which can cost anywhere between $15,000 and $30,000 per cycle. Most patients end up needing multiple rounds of IVF to conceive.

“Well, all Republicans, to my knowledge, support IVF, in the Congress. And there’s no state that prohibits or regulates IVF in a way that makes it inaccessible,” Cotton said. “It is expensive for many couples. I understand that.”

While the Arkansas legislator told moderator Kristen Welker that the Senate would still have to evaluate the fiscal impact of the policy, he said that supporting access to IVF was not “controversial at all.”

Despite Cotton’s claim most Republicans support IVF, he and a vast majority of his GOP colleagues in the Senate voted against the Right to IVF Act in June, legislation that would have protected and expanded patients’ access to the treatment.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shut down Trump’s IVF idea during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” characterizing a potential mandate as a slippery slope.

When asked if he supports the Republican presidential nominee’s proposal, Graham