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Ryleigh Cooper on CNN
U.S. Forest Service worker Ryleigh Cooper of northern Michigan, who was working on her master's in forestry, voted for Donald Trump for president in 2024. A driving force behind her decision was his campaign pledge to make IVF treatment for pregnancy free.
A round of IVF treatment can cost an average of $12,000 to $17,000 but can run up to $30,000.
Living in Baldwin, in northern Michigan, about 60 miles south of Traverse City, Cooper, 24, wanted to have a child with her husband, according to Emily Davies of The Washington Post. She also believed Trump when he insisted during the campaign that he had nothing to do with Project 2025, which included mass cuts to the federal workforce.
But last month, as part of the Trump administration's mass firings, a district manager in charge of the Forest Service in Baldwin told her to pack up her belongings—she was done, the Post reports. Days later, she saw news of an executive order to expand access to IVF. It included Trump's request for a reduction in costs, but it wasn’t free.
"Delivering on promises for American families," read the White House’s announcement.
"That’s bullshit," she recalled thinking, according to The Post.
In an interview on CNN, she said:
"I do feel regret" about voting for Trump.
She also told the network, "It's hard from my perspective to approach the current administration with hope."
She said she considers herself a swing voter.
"I've been dealing with infertility now for about a year. I've had multiple surgeries in my life, so, you know, going into the voting booth, the main thing on my mind was the same thing I've been thinking about for the past 11 months. And it was, you know, I want to be a mom."
She explained that sometimes voting comes down to a single issue: "You're thinking about what's important to you."
"I made a decision that, looking back, I'm not proud of, but it's the reality of my situation now."
Not everyone feels bad for her.
Peter Werbe, a former Detroit radio personality and author of "Summer on Fire" and "Eat the Rich," posted Cooper’s CNN interview on Facebook along with this comment:
"It's a little hard to feel sorry for this person. She's a federal worker who ignored her union's endorsement of Harris and ignored the Project 2025 agenda that called for exactly what happened to her.
"Talk about voting against your own best interests. But as the Trump regime’s chaos grows and he hurts more and more of his pathetic voters, I think we're going to see a social explosion that these fascists never thought possible. They're arrogant and dumb—a fatal combination."
