Along the 2024 presidential campaign trail, Donald Trump pledged to make in vitro fertilization , or IVF, free – part of his party’s wider push for a new American “baby boom .”
But in October 2025, when the administration revealed its IVF proposal , many health care experts pointed out that it falls short of mandating insurance companies to cover the procedure.
Since Trump returned to the White House, it has become clear just how fraught IVF is for his base. Some conservative Christians oppose IVF because it often involves destroying extra embryos not implanted in the woman’s uterus.
According to Politico, anti-abortion groups lobbied against a requirement for employers to cover IVF . Instead, some vouched for “restorative reproductive medicine” – a term that has been around for decades but has received much more attention , especially from conservatives, in the past few months.
Proponents of restorative reproductive medicine tend to present it as an alternative to IVF : a different way of treating infertility, focused on treating underlying causes. But the approach is controversial, and some practitioners closely link their treatments to Catholic teachings.
As a scholar of religion , I study U.S. Catholics’ varied perspectives on infertility, seeking to understand how religious beliefs and practices influence physicians’ and patients’ choices. Their perspectives help provide a more nuanced understanding of Christianity’s role in the U.S. reproductive and political landscape.
Defining restorative reproductive medicine
Clinics that advertise themselves as offering restorative reproductive medicine try to diagnose underlying issues that could make conception difficult, like endometriosis . Typically, a patient and provider will closely monitor the patient’s menstrual cycle to identify potential abnormalities. Interventions include hormone therapies, medications, supplements, surgeries and lifestyle changes.
