President Donald Trump‘s recent split with Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the edge, or maybe just the hope, for which more traditional conservatives in the party have been waiting. This is especially true in the buildup to the administration’s release of policy recommendations for in vitro fertilization.
Trump’s “baby boom” plans saw particular amplification under his political union with Musk, whose frequent reminders of “extreme birth rate collapse” encouraged pronatalists of all sorts to offer ideas. Most revolved around tax credits, educational materials, and IVF.
Musk helped the Trump team for months before the 2024 presidential election. As the two became close and Musk made significant contributions to the success of the campaign, concerns loomed over how much influence the tech CEO would have on Trump’s cultural platform. His drug use was of some concern, but more relevant, Musk’s relationship habits brought the expectation of a practical rift when it came time to consider family policy options.
Indeed, Musk is a strong proponent of in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and sperm donation. He has used IVF to produce at least six of his 14 children, many of the rest of them very likely IVF-produced, given Musk’s past reliance on the procedure and the constant succession of children. Four different women have mothered Musk’s children, most of them extramarital. That doesn’t include the non-childbearing and private affairs Musk has conducted. He and musician Grimes obtained Musk’s tenth child, their second, through surrogacy. And at least as recently as 2023, Musk donated his sperm to an unnamed woman, with many prior occasions of the same also very likely.
These are details Musk touts proudly as defining characteristics of his worldview. The more public he is with them, the more difficult it is for the Trump administration to take hard social conservative stances without risking consistency of messaging. As such, the feared GOP rift on IVF is already apparent. But Trump’s recent distance from Musk means there is much less incentive to shy away from traditional positions on marriage and childbearing. They remain unpopular, but also remain fervent.
ANTI-IVF ADVOCATES MAKE ALL THE RIGHT MOVES
Small improvements may open up into larger successes. On gathering information on IVF ahead of the release of its policy recommendations, the administration forwent meeting with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine — a left-wing, pro-IVF, abortion-rights nonprofit with a lobbying arm. That gave anti-abortion organizations the room to make their case for alternatives to IVF.
Of course, it’s easy to overestimate the likely success of one’s positions, especially conservative ones. Trump is no reliable source, but Musk’s departure may help the cause.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
