Whitmer targets Trump over ‘flip-flops’ on abortion, IVF

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Tuesday slammed former President Trump for his recent attempts to shift the conversation around reproductive rights and abortion, stating voters “can’t trust” the GOP nominee.

“I mean, this is a Draconian, scary moment, and we know you can’t trust Donald Trump when it comes to women’s fundamental rights to make our own decisions and access health,” Whitmer said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Trump last week pledged his administration would protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and have either the government or insurance companies pay for the treatment if he’s elected in November.

“Under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” he said in an exclusive interview with NBC News, adding it would apply to “all Americans who get it; all Americans who need it.”

A day later, the former president stated he will vote against an upcoming ballot measure in his home state of Florida that would overturn the state’s current abortion ban.

Whitmer, a co-chair of Vice President Harris’s campaign, argued Florida is “an epicenter of Trump’s flip-flops,” when discussing Harris’s bus tour focused on promoting access to reproductive rights starting Tuesday in Palm Beach.

“I think bringing the message to the people, talking with women and health care providers and our families, that’s how we had such a historic outcome in our ’22 election here in Michigan,” Whitmer said. “But it’s important, even for Michiganders and New Yorkers and Floridians to know what’s at stake if we have a second Trump presidency.”

She further pointed to Project 2025, the conservative movement’s detailed plan for how the next GOP president should wield power, and its proposals to monitor pregnancies.

Trump in July said Project 2025 goes “way too far” in its abortion policy recommendations and has repeatedly sought to distance himself from the plan. It was written by the Heritage Foundation with input from more than 100 conservative groups, independent of the Trump campaign.

“We know that over a third of American women have no ability to access abortion health care until they’re literally dying,” Whitmer said. “It is a scary situation across the country and as we have seen from Trump, he has praised his appointments to the United States Supreme Court. He was happy when Roe v Wade fell on the Dobbs decision, what came out, and now he’s trying to pretend that he wants longer than six weeks, even though he’s flip-flopped even on that.”

She contrasted Trump’s stance with Harris, stating the former president “wants to rip these rights away,” while Harris seeks to “give women greater access.”

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

IVF came to the forefront of conversation earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos and fertilized eggs were considered people under law, and anyone who destroys them can be held liable for their death.

IVF services were mostly halted in the state in reaction to the ruling, though lawmakers quickly passed legislation to address civil and criminal liability for IVF providers, allowing services to resume.

The Trump-Vance campaign, as well as the GOP more broadly, has largely attempted to sidestep issues related to abortion and reproductive rights, given the unpopularity of its anti-abortion agenda among voters since Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago. 

Last month, the former president argued abortion is no longer a “big factor” in elections, saying he thinks it will end up being a “very small issue” in this year’s vote.