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.

“We’re pro-family. Nobody has said that before,” Trump said. “But the IVF treatments are expensive. It’s very hard for many people to do it and to get it.

“But I’ve been in favor of IVF right from the beginning. If you talk to [Democrats], they’ll say, ‘Oh, he really doesn’t like it.’ They have ads that I’m against it. It’s just the opposite.

“By comparison, they’re against it. But I’m totally in favor of it. But we’re going to do what I just said. We’re going to pay for it,” he said.

“It will help families because a lot of families can’t use it, and a lot of these same families have been hurt so badly by their inflation. They caused the inflation, and we are going to pay for the IVF treatments. We’re going to pay for it and take care of it.”

The Republican Party has taken a more moderate stance toward abortion since the Supreme Court ended the federal right to the procedure in June 2022. Trump said he is in favor of a 15-week limit and has denied claims by Harris and Democrats that he favors a nationwide federal ban on abortions

Earlier Thursday, he reportedly said he will vote for a proposed constitutional amendment in Florida that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban, telling the Daily Mail he thinks it should be more than six weeks. The initiative, known as Amendment 4, would restrict abortions before fetal viability, which is typically 23-24 weeks.

“Well, I do know” how I will vote, “but I do want more than six weeks,” said Trump, who is registered to vote in Florida. “I want more than six weeks. I think six weeks is a mistake.

“And I’ll be expressing that soon, but I want more than six weeks. And in Florida, we have a six-week program. And that’s what I believe that you’re voting on, and I think it should be more than six weeks.”