Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his wife, first lady Gwen Walz, have clarified that they conceived their children not through IVF, as the previous governor said or gave in interviews, but through other fertility treatments.
Republican vice president Senator JD Vance of Ohio, took to the X social media platform, before Twitter, to seize the revelation and ask, “Who lies about something like that?” after asserting that Walz had lied to the public about having children through IVF, adding to earlier attacks that Walz had “lied” about his service in the National Guard.
But the Harris-Walz campaign got back at Vance:
“The Trump campaign’s attack on Mrs. Walz is just another example of how ruthless and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s health care,” Harris-Walz campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg told Fox News Digital. “Infertility is a personal journey, but Governor and Ms. Walz are stepping forward to share their stories because they know that MAGA’s attack on reproductive rights puts all fertility treatments at risk.”
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Harris campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg supported CNN that Tim Walz “speaks how normal people speak. He uses commonly known shorthand for fertility treatment.” The couple did not receive in vitro fertilization (IVF) but intrauterine insemination (IUI).
In a statement shared with the media, Gwen Walz said her journey through fertility treatment was filled with anxiety, pain and “desperation that can destroy your soul.”
“I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need,” she said. “After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country — in particular, efforts in Alabama that are jeopardizing access to fertility treatment — Tim and I agreed it was time to speak out about our experiences.”
“Like many of us going through these challenges, we kept to ourselves at the time – not even sharing the details with our good and close family,” Gwen Walz said. “The only person who knows in detail what we’re doing is our next-door neighbor.”
“She was a nurse and helped me get the images I needed as part of the IUI process. I would rush home from school, and she would give me shots to make sure we stayed on track.”
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Tim Walz stated during an interview with MSNBC in July that he had IVF to thank for his children, saying, “Thanks to IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children.” In another case, Walz referred to “fertility treatment” and insisted that the issue of IVF rights remains “personal” for her because of her and her husband’s struggle to have children.
Tim Walz made his support for IVF a major cause after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created from IVF treatment should be considered children, which would lay the groundwork for further legislation on the treatment. Embryos that have been fertilized but not used are often discarded, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“Embryo disposal decision” deals with the question of storage after childbirth. Many couples end up donating good-quality embryos to research programs, but discarding fertilized embryos remains a common practice.
IVF requires removing some eggs and fertilizing them outside the body before transferring them to the uterus, while IUI injects sperm directly into the uterus. IUI also involves “washing” the sperm to separate them from the seminal fluid to increase the number of sperm transferred and increase the chances of successful fertilization, according to Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.
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Former President Donald Trump said shortly after the Alabama verdict, “We want to make it easier for moms and dads to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.”
“Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find immediate solutions to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social following the decision. “The Republican Party must always be on the side of the Miracle of Life – and on the side of Moms, Dads, and Beautiful Babies.”
The corrections issued by the Harris-Walz campaign are others that Tim Walz’s previous statements should have made, including clarifications about National Guard service.
The team changed Tim Walz’s biography on his campaign website amid ongoing scrutiny of Walz’s service, changing it from saying he was a “retired Sergeant Major” to “serving as command sergeant major.”
Tim Walz retired from the Guard after nearly 25 years of service, but his rank was reduced a month later, leaving him as a master sergeant.
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National Guard officials said he retired before completing the requirements for the position, including a course at the U.S. Army Sergeant Major Academy. The next lower rank is due to the benefit and technical requirements.
The Trump-Vance campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Adam Shaw of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.