California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Sunday requiring major health insurance companies in the state to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF), a move that was deliberately aimed at affecting the national presidential election.
IVF is an experimental treatment once used in rare cases to help couples struggling with infertility. It has now become more popular as an option for women who want to delay pregnancy, or raise children on their own. It is, however, very expensive. Few insurance policies cover IVF, due to the cost, though there is ample anecdotal evidence of women taking short-term jobs at the few companies, like Amazon.com, that offer to cover IVF as part of benefit packages.
The bill, SB 729, “would require large and small group health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services. With respect to large group health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies, the bill would require coverage for a maximum of 3 completed oocyte retrievals, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of infertility, and would remove the exclusion of in vitro fertilization from coverage.”
The bill also requires the state to compensate local governments and school districts for the new costs it imposes; it does not make any determination about what to do if IVF coverage makes health insurance more costly in the private sector.
In a statement, Newsom said: “California is a proud reproductive freedom state – and that includes increasing access to fertility services that help those who want to start a family. As Republicans across the country continue to claw back rights and block access to IVF – all while calling themselves ‘the party of families’ – we are proud to help every Californian make their own choices about the family they want.” He did not provide evidence for his claims.
President Donald Trump has said, often, that he supports IVF. Democrats claim that Republicans want to end IVF. They cited a controversy in Alabama, where many health care providers suspended IVF treatments after the state’s highest court ruled that IVF embryos were human beings for the purposes of a wrongful death civil lawsuit.
Some conservatives have raised ethical questions about what happens to embryos that are frozen or destroyed without developing into human beings. And Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), has expressed support for the traditional family model of raising children. However, there is no Republican effort to block access to IVF.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.