US bishops condemn Trump administration plan to expand IVF access

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement sharply criticising the Trump administration’s decision to expand access to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and fertility treatments.

In a joint statement released on 20 October, the chairmen of three USCCB committees said they “strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF” that “freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property.”

The joint response followed the White House’s announcement earlier in the week that it would introduce new federal initiatives to make IVF treatments more accessible to couples struggling with infertility. The administration’s move was presented as part of a broader policy effort to address declining birth rates in the country.

“Every human life, born and preborn, is sacred and loved by God,” said Bishop Robert E. Barron, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty; and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

They continued, “Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognise that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention. And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.”

The bishops noted that they welcomed aspects of the administration’s plan that support ethical and restorative reproductive medicine. “Though we are grateful that aspects of the administration’s policies announced Thursday intend to include comprehensive and holistic restorative reproductive medicine, which can help ethically to address infertility and its underlying causes, we strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property,” the statement said.

In their response, the bishops added that they would continue to examine the new policies and engage with both the administration and Congress “always proclaiming the sanctity of life and of marriage.”

“As pastors, we see the suffering of so many couples experiencing infertility and know their deep desire to have children is both good and admirable; yet the administration’s push for IVF, which ends countless human lives and treats persons like property, cannot be the answer,” Bishop Barron said.

They added that the “IVF industry treats human beings like products and freezes or kills millions of children who are not selected for transfer to a womb or do not survive. Tuesday’s executive order promoting IVF is thus fatally flawed and stands in regrettable contrast to the promising pro-life actions of the administration last month.”

They said the Church would continue to work with the administration “to expand support for restorative reproductive medicine that can help ethically treat often-overlooked root causes of infertility,” but would “strongly oppose any policy that expands destruction of human life, or forces others to subsidise the cost.”

The statement marks the latest in a series of USCCB interventions on life issues since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, following earlier correspondence with the White House on abortion and end-of-life care.

Although President Trump pledged during his 2024 re-election campaign to ensure that the cost of IVF would be covered by insurance or the federal government, the administration has since retreated from that position. It was reported earlier this year by The Washington Post that the White House has decided against seeking legislation to mandate coverage, despite the President’s earlier declarations that his government would “pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment.”

Photo credit: President Donald Trump listens as administration officials speak during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on October 16, 2025 (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

‍