The Republican presidential candidate's comments are the latest attempt to present a moderate image on reproductive issues.
Donald Trump has pledged to make in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment free for all women and criticised Florida's ban on abortion at six weeks gestation, the Republican's latest attempt to reinvent himself as a champion of reproductive rights.
Speaking at a campaign rally on Thursday, Trump said he would require the government or insurance companies to cover all IVF costs if he were elected to a second term as president in November.
“Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely,” Trump told supporters in Potterville, Michigan, a key battleground state.
“But IVF treatments are very expensive,” the Republican candidate added. “It’s very difficult for a lot of people to do it and get it. But I have been in favor of IVF from the beginning.”
Trump did not give further details on how he would fund the plans.
Trump also said he would allow new parents to deduct “significant newborn expenses” from their taxes if he is re-elected.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday morning, Trump said the six-week abortion limit signed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is “too short” and that there should be “more time.”
Trump also appeared to suggest he would vote for an upcoming ballot measure in Florida to guarantee abortion rights up to fetal viability, though a campaign adviser later said the former president had not revealed whether he would support the measure.
Trump's comments come as he seeks to moderate Republicans' standing on reproductive access, which has been cited as a drag on the party's standing among women.
On Friday, Trump, who appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, said in a post on his Truth Social platform that his administration would be “great for women and their reproductive rights.”
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has repeatedly called Trump a threat to women's rights, including access to abortion, contraception and fertility treatments.
Addressing supporters in the key swing state of Georgia on Thursday, Harris reiterated her warning that Trump would sign a nationwide abortion ban when in office.
“Why don’t they trust women? Well, we trust women! And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” she said.
Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, told NBC News on Saturday that Trump would veto a national abortion ban if Congress sent it to his desk.
Opinion polls suggest Trump has lost support among women voters since the vice president replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic contender.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, Harris led Trump by 13 percentage points among women, up from a nine-point lead in July.
While Trump's effort to present a moderate image on reproductive issues may increase his appeal in some quarters, it risks alienating religious and anti-abortion voters, who make up a significant portion of the Republican base.
“It’s a problem for Trump that after his speech that sought to settle the matter, week after week he is making his position on abortion more liberal, pulling the floorboards out from under his pro-life supporters and making them feel like he won’t stop,” Michael Brendan Dougherty, a writer for the conservative National Review, wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
