Democratic Senator Urges Trump to Defend IVF Coverage in the Defense Bill

“WARNING: Speaker Johnson wants you to become the DEADBEAT DAD OF IVF,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter to Donald Trump.

Tammy Duckworth

Sen. Tammy Duckworth Tom Williams/AP

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.