Gwen Walz, the wife of Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, disclosed in a piece published in Glamour this week that the fertility treatments she underwent were intrauterine insemination treatments, rather than in vitro fertilization.
“Our fertility journey was an incredibly personal and difficult experience,” she said, in discussing the IUI treatments. “We hope other families find solace in our story.” She said a neighbor who happened to be a nurse would come help with the “shots I needed as part of the IUI process.”
She acknowledged that the reason she and her husband decided to talk about their struggle with infertility because of the threat to in vitro fertilization treatments, in particular, the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February that frozen embryos made through IVF are children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
“I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need,” Gwen Walz told Glamour.
The Walz family’s use of fertility treatments isn’t lost on Vice President Kamala Harris, who highlighted the couple’s fertility journey in Philadelphia, at her first rally with Walz after she selected him to be her running mate. Harris has been a vocal advocate of reproductive technology, as well as women’s access to abortion.
And Walz, the governor of Minnesota, has spoken about infertility at campaign events since he became the VP nominee, crediting fertility treatments like IVF with helping his wife to conceive their two children. And as governor, Walz has voiced concern about Americans’ access to IVF.
“Gwen and I have two beautiful children because of reproductive health care like IVF,” Walz wrote on Facebook after the Alabama ruling. “This issue is deeply personal to our family and so many others. Don’t let these guys get away with this by telling you they support IVF when their handpicked judges oppose it.”
He told the Star Tribune in March that the couple underwent fertility treatments for seven years before Gwen became pregnant with their daughter, Hope.
In early August, soon after his selection as Harris’ running mate, other outlets referred to the family’s “IVF journey,” although they did not quote Walz on the type of fertility treatments his wife had undergone. IUI treatment is an artificial insemination process that typically requires stimulant shots, as IVF does. But unlike IVF, an IUI treatment inserts sperm into the uterus to increase the chances of fertilization. IVF treatments involve the creation of embryos in a laboratory facility, and they are then transferred into the uterus. IVF currently faces a number of legal challenges, while IUI does not.
“This gets personal for me and my family,” Tim Walz said earlier this month at the Philadelphia rally alongside Harris hours after being announced as her running mate. “When my wife and I decided to have children we spent years going through infertility treatments. And I remember praying every night for a call for good news. The pit in my stomach when the phone rang, and the agony when we heard that the treatments hadn’t worked. So, this wasn’t by chance that when we welcomed my daughter into the world. We named her Hope.”
“Governor Walz and Mrs. Walz have two children, Hope and Gus,” the Harris campaign said in a statement. “Governor Walz and Mrs. Walz struggled with years of fertility challenges and had their daughter, Hope, through reproductive health care like IVF — further cementing his commitment to ensuring all Americans have access to this care.”
IVF has been a topic of debate on Capitol Hill, too. After the Alabama ruling, the Senate voted on legislation in June to make IVF access a right nationally. All but two Senate Republicans voted to block the set of bills, and many maintained that they supported IVF access. Some Republicans called the push for the legislation a political stunt on the part of Democrats.
“Even if you’ve never gone through the hell of infertility, someone you know has,” Walz wrote on social media. “When Gwen and I were having trouble getting pregnant, the anxiety and frustration blotted out the sun. JD Vance opposing the miracle of IVF is a direct attack on my family and so many others.”
Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was one of the majority of Senate Republicans who voted against the IVF package. After Gwen Walz’s disclosure that she underwent IUI treatments, not IVF, Vance posted on X, “Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?”