Yesterday President Donald Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office to announce policy proposals seeking to improve access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), the first details that have been released since the executive order in February.
As a non-profit organization that has been dedicated for decades to protecting and expanding access to fertility care, AllPaths Family Building is following this closely. If there is anything that our community has learned (often the hard way), it is that you can hold many different emotions at once. This was certainly true for me while watching yesterday’s press conference – including optimism, skepticism, and curiosity.
AllPaths will work hard, with our many advocacy partners, to learn more about the details and to monitor implementation of these policies. In the meantime, we want to affirm our values and share what we know so far. At AllPaths, the people struggling to grow their families are at the center of everything we do, so we always evaluate policies through this lens. We are also highly protective of the emotional well-being of our community and worry that rhetoric can sometimes be confusing or give false hopes. We know that people dealing with fertility challenges, particularly those without insurance coverage, are eager for actual solutions that will enable them to access fertility care. So, it is understandable to be hopeful, but also, we encourage caution because there is still a lot that we do not know. For all these reasons, AllPaths relies on facts and actions, not just words, which is particularly important in uncertain times like these.
Here is what was included in the announcement:
- EMD Serono has reached an agreement with the administration to offer Direct-to-Consumer sales of their IVF therapies, including Gonal-f®, Ovidrel®, and Cetrotide®, at reduced prices through the TrumpRx.gov direct purchasing platform, which is expected to go live in January 2026.
- There will also be a fertility benefit option where employers can offer standalone fertility benefit packages directly to employees, like they do for dental, vision, and life insurance, for “coverage for treatment of infertility, including IVF”. However, this is not a fertility insurance law, and more information is needed. As reported by the New York Times, “It is unclear how many employers will choose to offer coverage for [IVF]. The White House will not be providing any subsidies for employers that offer such benefits, and there will be no mandate that they participate.”
Fertility care is essential health care, and as such, it should be covered by insurance. AllPaths remains committed to ensuring that family building, which includes fertility treatments like IVF and all paths to parenthood, is accessible to everyone. This is the future that we are working toward, and we won’t stop fighting until it becomes a reality.