In a new comments, Gwen Walz, the wife of Democratic vice presidential contender Tim Walz, for the first time discussed what she called the “incredibly personal and difficult experience” of using fertility treatments to have children, how she says the couple barely felt comfortable telling anyone at the time, and the specifics of her treatment, which was intrauterine insemination, or IUI — not IVF, as had been broadly assumed.
Her husband has often talked on the campaign trail about their struggle in general terms, connecting their experience to the bans on in vitro fertilization (IVF) put in place this past spring in Alabama and attacking Republicans over reproductive rights restrictions.
“Like millions of families across the country, for years, Tim and I tried to start a family through fertility treatments. We followed the journey that is infertility — the anxiety, the agony, and the desperation that can eat away at your soul,” Gwen Walz said in comments to Glamour and later confirmed to ABC News.
“Knowing that pain, I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need. After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country — particularly, the efforts in Alabama that jeopardized access to fertility treatments — Tim and I agreed that it was time to formally speak out about our experience,” she said.
Her husband has frequently talked about their fertility journey generally, referring to IVF and treatments “like it,” but not using the term IUI — likely known only to a narrower audience.
Tim Walz stands on stage at an election night party with his wife, Gwen Walz, son, Gus Walz, and daughter Hope Walz on Aug. 14, 2018 in St. Paul, Minn.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, FILE
While recently speaking at a rally in Detroit, Tim Walz said that it would be “dangerous” to ban “things like IVF as well as IVF,” saying “this is very personal for my family. When my wife and I decided to have children, we went through two years of fertility treatment.”
And in an interview earlier this month, grouping GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance in with Republicans who support restrictions on IVF, Walz said that if it were “up to him, I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF and the things that we need to do.”
“My kids were born through that direct, you know, that way,” Walz said.
But IUI is different from IVF, and has not come under the same levels of attack because it does not involve freezing, transferring or discarding embryos.
It’s a minor distinction in some respects — fertility advocates say the Walz family’s experience certainly gives them credibility to talk about how important access to fertility treatment is, regardless of using IVF or the lesser-known IUI — but it would’ve mattered in Alabama, for example, because the Walz family would not have lost access to their care after the state’s recent Supreme Court decision.
The decision, which put IVF into the spotlight on a national scale, determined frozen embryos qualify legally as children. It forced half of the state’s fertility clinics to put IVF treatments on hold for weeks because they didn’t want to be held liable for discarding unused embryos, a normal part of the process.
The detail that Gwen Walz did not use IVF, but rather a different treatment, quickly led to an attack from Vance, who said Tim Walz “lied” and should know the difference, having been involved in the process.
“Like, you know the difference, right? Anybody who’s had a friend or themselves gone through fertility treatments, you know the difference. So, why lie about it? I just don’t understand it,” Vance said.
Minnesota Governor and Democratic Vice President nominee Tim Walz laughs as his wife, Gwen, speaks to a room full of fellow school teachers before the governor’s inauguration at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn., Jan. 7, 2019.
Eric Miller/Reuters, FILE
In response, the Harris campaign called Vance’s attack “just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s healthcare.”
“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,” said campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg in a statement.
Ehrenberg said Tim Walz “talks how normal people talk” and “was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.”
Gwen Walz, speaking at a Rural Council event at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, did not seem to mind her husband’s general descriptions of their treatment journey. She remarked that “they’re fact-checking us on every single little tiny thing,” and joked that she wouldn’t attempt to give the exact number of students she graduated with in her small high school class in rural southwestern Minnesota.
In the interview about her fertility treatment, she said she hadn’t wanted to be outspoken about the details of her journey until recently, because of how painful it was. Back in the early 2000s, during the process, she said she only told a neighbor who was a nurse and could help her with her regularly-needed shots.
“I’d rush home from school and she would give me the shots to ensure we stayed on track. Many of our closest family and friends were surprised when we shared these experiences so many years later,” she said.
The details of Walz’ fertility journey led some organizations to clarify their past descriptions, including the IVF advocacy group RESOLVE.
In a statement, the group said it “regrets” if the organization contributed to any confusion about the type of fertility treatments used by Walz and his wife but said they continue to welcome Walz’s advocacy and support.
“We support all paths to parenthood and have welcomed Gov. Walz’s support of our community and our advocacy issues, since our federal Advocacy Day in 2017 during his tenure in Congress,” Barbara Collura, President and CEO of RESOLVE, said in a statement.
“The ongoing conversation around the importance of IVF access and other fertility treatments has made millions of would-be parents across the country feel seen. We need our elected representatives at the state and federal level, and government officials to do everything in their power to make it easier, not harder, for people to build their families,” Collura said.