Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) children were not conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), the Harris-Walz campaign confirmed this week.
This comes after Walz claimed multiple times that he owes his two children to IVF.
According to The New York Times, “many have assumed” that Walz and his wife, Gwen, relied on IVF to conceive. This includes several prominent news outlets that reported that the couple used IVF.
In April, the Tim Walz for Governor campaign office mailed out a fundraising letter in an envelope that said, “My wife and I used IVF to start a family,” the Times pointed out.
However, this is not true. The couple used a different method, intrauterine insemination, or IUI, the Walz-Harris campaign confirmed to the outlet. And, there is a key distinction between IVF treatments and IUI treatments (via NYT):
The treatments have a key distinction: Unlike I.V.F., I.U.I. does not involve creating or discarding embryos. And so anti-abortion leaders are not trying to restrict the treatment.
[...]
I.U.I. works by taking a sample of highly concentrated sperm and inserting it into a woman’s uterus with a catheter — effectively trying to mimic natural conception. The I.V.F. process often involves creating and freezing multiple embryos in a laboratory, and transferring those most likely to result in a healthy pregnancy.
Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokeswoman, defended Walz, stating that he “talks how normal people talk” and “He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.”
In a statement to CNN, Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz clarified that she did not undergo IVF to conceive her children.
“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. The only person who knew in detail what we were going through was our next door neighbor,” she said in the statement.
“She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process. I’d rush home from school and she would give me the shots to ensure we stayed on track,” she continued.
In an MSNBC interview last month, Walz stated: “Today is IVF day. Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children.”
THREAD: In addition to his military career & drunk driving arrest, there’s another topic about which @Tim_Walz has been lying for political purposes —the conception of his own children. Since IVF treatments entered the news earlier this year, Walz has been repeatedly claiming he… pic.twitter.com/hHdfSsiGaI
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 20, 2024
At a rally in Philadelphia, he said he spent “years” going through infertility treatments with his wife. IVF specifically, he said, is “personal for me and my family.”
Here’s Walz two weeks ago in Philadelphia talking about IVF: “This gets personal for me and my family” pic.twitter.com/ElUSdMu4QO
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 20, 2024
He made similar remarks in Wisconsin, stating that he felt “agony” when IVF treatments did not work.
Here’s Walz in Wisconsin two weeks ago again claiming his kids were conceived thanks to IVF: “Some of you may have heard this. [IVF] is personal for my wife and I. When Gwen & I decided to have children, we went through years of fertility treatments. The phone would ring,… pic.twitter.com/CVOQcIPeLZ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 20, 2024
On a campaign call, Walz stated, “I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF” if it were up to former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance.
“My kids were born through that way,” he said.