Trump calls himself ‘father of fertilization’
Speaking during his second North Carolina rally of the day, former President Donald Trump called himself the “father of fertilization,” as he described conversations with an Alabama senator about in vitro fertilization treatments.
“I consider myself to be the father of fertilization,” said Trump to laughs from the audience, explaining his support for IVF, which was thrust into limbo in Alabama after a court decision in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Katie Britt, the senator from Alabama, called up. ‘Sir, you have to help us. You have to help us. I said, ‘Explain.’ She said, ‘About what happened with the IVF. The judge said, close all the clinics all over Alabama.’ And she said, ‘Everyone is furious.’ I said, ‘Explain it to me.’ And when she explained, it took me about two minutes to figure it out, and I came out with a very strong statement, totally in favor.”
Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris for saying he would attempt to limit IVF treatments, distancing himself from the far-right think tank proposal Project 2025.
“I’ve never read it. I don’t want to read it, because that way I can be honest with you, I don’t want to read it. Some people got together. I assume they’re extremely conservative, that’s OK. Then they came up with a plan. But I told them, I don’t know about the plan. They had a couple of people that work for me in the administration, I guess, or something. But they came up with some kind of a plan, and it’s on the conservative side, I assume. And they keep talking about Project 2025, but I said, I don’t know about it … Everything she says is a lie.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh