Nicole Shanahan has for years denounced IVF — calling it “one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.”
Robert Kennedy Jr’s 38-year-old vice presidential pick’s opposition to IVF is based on skepticism of the fertility industry. When trying to conceive her first child, she was told she was not a good candidate for IVF because she suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome. Two years later she conceived naturally.
In 2022 she said, “I believe IVF is sold irresponsibly, and in my own experience with natural childbirth has led me to understand that the fertility industry is deeply flawed.”
Instead, Shanahan has been a vocal proponent of and financial backer for unconventional research into the possibility of helping women having children into their 50s, and exploring no-cost interventions to help women conceive, such as exposure to sunlight.
While speaking to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023, Shanahan said, “I’m not sure that there has been a really thorough mitochondrial respiration study on the effects of two hours of morning sunlight on reproductive health. I would love to fund something like that.”
The statement was met with chuckles, “Yeah, let’s do it,” she added. “I just have an intuition that could be interesting and maybe work.”
The president of Reproductive Freedom For All, Mini Timmaraju, explained it this way:
“Reasonable people could have concerns with bioethics, or a lot of us have concerns with how a lot of science is marketed and mass produced, right?” Timmaraju said. “I’m sure there’s a tiny little kernel and rationale behind all of this. But at the end of the day, IVF has been a long-established reproductive health technology, and Nicole Shanahan, bless her, is not a medical expert.”