Former President Donald Trump said Thursday at a rally in Potterville, Michigan, that the federal government will mandate insurance companies to cover all costs related to in vitro fertilization treatments.

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for, all costs associated with IVF treatments, fertilization for women,” Trump said in a speech that aired on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform, “because we want more babies, to put it very nicely.

“And for the same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes.”

Trump appears to be trying to derail a key issue used by Harris and Democrats since Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos created through IVF are considered children. Democrats seized on the decision to cast Republicans as a threat to women’s “reproductive rights,” but Trump and other GOP leaders sharply criticized the Alabama court’s ruling.

Trump said the costs of IVF treatments are exorbitant. Forbes reported in 2023 a single IVF cycle — defined as ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, and embryo transfer — can range from $15,000 to $30,000, depending on the center and the patient’s medication needs, and medications can account for up to 35% of those charges.