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Donald Trump calls himself ‘father of IVF’ at all-women town hall

REUTERS/MARCO BELLO Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks today during a town hall presented by Spanish-language network Univision in Doral, Florida.

REUTERS/MARCO BELLO

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks today at a town hall presented by Spanish-language network Univision in Doral, Florida.

WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump called himself the “father of IVF” at a town hall for female voters today, as the Republican presidential candidate tries to convince the crucial voting bloc that they can trust him on reproductive issues. Trump, who is trailing Democrat Kamala Harris in popularity among female voters ahead of the November 5 US election, suggested he was keen to discuss the issue at an all-women event hosted by Fox News in Georgia. The state is among the handful likely to decide the election.

“I want to talk about IVF. I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question,” Trump said. Hearing that some women were concerned about possible restrictions on fertility treatments, Trump praised his party’s support for the procedure, even though some conservative Republicans do not support in vitro fertilization.

Senate Republicans blocked Democratic-led legislation aimed at protecting IVF access twice in recent months, with some Republicans arguing that the legislation is unnecessary because IVF access is not at risk.

“We are truly the party for IVF,” Trump said. “We want conception that goes all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we are there on IVF, even more than they are.” IVF emerged as a hot-button election issue after the conservative Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos are children. That ruling left it unclear how embryos could be legally stored, transported and used, prompting some IVF patients to move their frozen embryos out of state.

Republicans across the country sought to contain the backlash from the decision, while Democrats warned that more reproductive rights could be at risk.

Trump’s campaign described his “father of IVF” comment as a joke. “It was a joke President Trump made as he enthusiastically answered a question about IVF because he strongly supports widespread access to fertility treatments for women and families,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

When Harris was asked about Trump’s comments, he warned against being “distracted by his choice of words.”

“The reality is that his actions in this area have been deeply damaging to women and families in America,” Harris told reporters.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week, 49% of voting women support Harris, while 40% support Trump.

Polls also show that Americans generally trust Democrats more than Republicans on reproductive rights.

Trump, who as president appointed three of the justices who formed the majority that ended constitutional protections for abortion, has said the case should now be decided by individual states. He has also said he would support making IVF free, although he has not specified how he would do that.

During the town hall, Trump occasionally returned to the dark language that characterized many of his campaign stops.

Trump warned of the danger posed by an “enemy within” – a phrase he has used before – and called his opponents “evil.”

“They are really very different, and it is the enemy from within, and they are dangerous,” Trump said while discussing his political enemies.

Trump was responding to a comment from Fox host Harris Faulkner, who noted that Harris had criticized an interview Trump gave to Fox News on Sunday in which he had called Democrats the enemy from within.

During that interview, Trump suggested that the National Guard or the military could be deployed to tackle “radical left-wing lunatics.”

Because he is no longer in office, Trump does not have the authority to order such a deployment, although he has repeatedly expressed interest in using the military to suppress civilian protesters during his term from 2017 to 2021, according to former advisers .