US President Donald Trump took steps Tuesday to expand access to in vitro fertilization, a move that could be welcomed by many Americans but may provoke backlash from conservatives and religious groups.

The Republican president signed an executive order directing his advisers to provide recommendations within 90 days on how to protect access to IVF and “aggressively” lower out-of-pocket and insurance costs for the procedure.

"My Administration recognizes the importance of family formation, and as a Nation, our public policy must make it easier for loving and longing mothers and fathers to have children," the order stated.

"Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options," it continued. 

Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, shortly after signing the order, that "I think the women and families, husbands, are very appreciative of it."

The president — whose billionaire top donor and ally Elon Musk has had several children by IVF — has long held conflicting stances on reproductive rights. 

He frequently boasts about appointing Supreme Court justices who ended federal protections for abortion access in 2022, a seismic move that made him a hero to the anti-abortion movement, which has driven conservative voters to the polls for decades.

But he drew fury from that same movement when, during last year's presidential campaign, he announced that in a second term he would ensure free IVF, and claimed to be the "father of IVF."

At the time Trump voiced worries that Republicans were out of step with voters on the issue. 

Republicans are divided on fertility treatments such as IVF, with many hailing them as a boost to American families.

Others, with strong beliefs that life begins at conception, oppose IVF because the procedure can produce multiple embryos, not all of which get used.

Almost every Senate Republican voted against assuring IVF access in a vote in June last year — including then-Ohio senator JD Vance, now Trump's vice president.

Reproductive rights activists had feared that the Supreme Court decision on abortion threatened IVF, especially after a court in Alabama last year ruled that frozen embryos could be considered people, leading to several clinics briefly pausing treatments.

Trump's Democratic rival Kamala Harris had put reproductive rights at the heart of her election platform, warning that Trump's moves on abortion also jeopardized access to fertility treatments.