Sen. Tammy Duckworth is urging President Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “father of IVF,” to stop Speaker Mike Johnson from stripping in vitro fertilization coverage for service members.
“WARNING: Speaker Johnson wants you to become the DEADBEAT DAD OF IVF,” Duckworth wrote Trump in handwritten annotations on a letter Thursday afternoon.
Johnson is reportedly working behind the scenes to remove a clause in the National Defense Authorization Act that would guarantee health coverage of assisted reproductive technologies for active duty service members and their families. The provision was approved by both the House and the Senate and added to the bill as an amendment earlier this year.
Johnson did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
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Duckworth’s letter, shared exclusively with NOTUS, is an annotated version of one she sent to Trump in December 2024 urging him to follow through with his campaign pledge to guarantee health insurance coverage for IVF, whether that be government-sponsored or through private insurance.
The Illinois senator never heard back from the then-president-elect or his transition team.
The senator personally annotated that letter to emphasize Johnson’s alleged role in restricting access to IVF. The original letter said that “Congressional Republicans appear to be acting on their opposition to your bold IVF campaign proposal.” In the latest version, Duckworth crossed out the words “Congressional Republicans” with a blue pen and wrote, “Speaker Johnson.”
The original letter was directed to “The Honorable Donald J. Trump.” This time, Duckworth has crossed out “Honorable.”
“Mike Johnson wants to force you to back down on your promise to cover the costs of IVF for all Americans,” Duckworth wrote.
“Covering IVF for members of the U.S. Armed Forces and military families should boast unanimous support from Democrats and Republicans alike,” Duckworth continued, adding “and almost does except for Mike Johnson” in blue pen.
TRICARE does not cover fertility treatments, such as IVF, for service members or their families. Duckworth’s provision would make it so that “The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that fertility-related care for a member of the uniformed services on active duty (or a dependent of such a member) shall be covered under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select,” per the NDAA’s current text.
After this story was published, a Johnson spokesperson told NOTUS in a statement that “President Trump and Congressional Republicans have been working to lower costs and expand access to IVF.”
“The Speaker has clearly and repeatedly stated he is supportive of access to IVF when sufficient pro-life protections are in place, and he will continue to be supportive when it is done responsibly and ethically,” the spokesperson added, referring to how anti-abortion advocates oppose IVF because of the discarding of embryos.
After months of speculation around how Trump would fulfill his campaign promise on IVF, the president in October unveiled a plan to lower the prices of a commonly used fertility drug and encouraged employers to offer IVF coverage for employees. The White House did not offer incentives to insurance companies or employers to do so. The plan fell short of his proposal to fully cover IVF costs.
The White House did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comment from Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
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