Gov. Tim Walz and wife Gwen Walz detail experience with fertility treatment, explain it wasn’t IVF
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Minnesota Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz this week said they used the fertility treatment intrauterine insemination to grow their family, not in vitro fertilization as the governor had previously said.
This week, first lady Gwen Walz shared more details about the couple’s experience with intrauterine insemination with national publications. The Walz family first began sharing their story early last spring, following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that limited in vitro fertilization services — also known as IVF — there.
In interviews and public speeches, the governor has said the couple got pregnant through IVF and suggested that the Alabama ruling could’ve prevented them from having their two children — Hope and Gus.
In a statement Tuesday, the first lady said their family faced “the anxiety, the agony and the desperation that can eat away at your soul” while undergoing fertility treatments over several years.
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“Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience. Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time — not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family,” Walz said.
Gwen Walz also said that the couple used intrauterine insemination — or IUI treatments — to conceive. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said the governor previously called the treatment IVF to make it more easily understandable to a general audience, although the two treatments are distinct.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said it was the latest example of Walz stretching his record, pointing to prior misstatements about his rank at the time he retired from the Army National Guard.
What’s the issue at question?
Vance has called out Walz for saying his two children — Hope and Gus — were conceived through IVF. First lady Gwen Walz in recent interviews clarified that she and the governor sought out IUI services to start their family.
IUI is typically used as a first step in attempting to conceive before doctors recommend pursuing IVF. As part of the treatment, sperm are placed directly into the uterus. In contrast, in vitro fertilization involves fertilizing an egg with a sperm in a laboratory dish then transferring the embryo to attach to the uterus.
Vance said it was misleading for the governor to conflate the two procedures in campaign appearances and speeches since some conservatives sought to restrict the use of IVF but not IUI.
“Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” Vance said on “X” Tuesday.
How has Walz talked about this issue?
The governor has frequently shared he and his wife’s story about seeking reproductive health support to start their family, especially following the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling essentially halting IVF services in the state.
He has referred to the health services as “like IVF” in some interviews and speeches but has blurred the line in others, lumping IUI in with IVF.
“As a sixth grade teacher, if you do that, you really love children. So we thought we’d have some of our own,” Walz told Minnesota reporters in March. “We used Mayo Clinic’s fertility [program], we had access to that. And I said when our daughter was born, that is why she’s named Hope. Because that was where we were at.”
In national media appearances and later speeches, the governor insinuated or said directly that he and the first lady used IVF and would’ve been unable to conceive under the Alabama ruling.
“What those judges did was a direct attack on our family. It was a direct attack on my children,” Walz said during his State of the State address earlier this year. “Gwen and I will not forget it and we will not forgive it, nor will thousands across this state.”
How is the Harris campaign responding?
Harris Campaign Spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said that Vance’s effort to raise questions about the Walz family’s path to conceiving children could dissuade others from sharing their stories publicly.
“The Trump campaign’s attacks on Mrs. Walz are just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s health care,” Ehrenberg said. “Infertility is a deeply personal journey, but the Governor and Mrs. Walz came forward to share their story because they know that MAGA attacks on reproductive rights are putting all fertility treatments at risk.”
Other organizations posted clarifications or corrections after stories about the Walz family’s experience with fertility treatment went live this week.
RESOLVE, a national infertility association, said it verified that, “while a supporter of IVF, the Walzes were able to build their family through intrauterine insemination or IUI. This deeply personal information was only recently clarified. RESOLVE regrets if our organization contributed to any confusion about how he became a parent.”