Fact Check: Tim Walz Claims IVF Helped Him and His Wife Have Children

Claim: Democrat vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (MN) claimed that he and his wife used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to have children and has used that claim to suggest that if his political opponents banned it, he would not have a family.

Verdict: False. Walz and his wife, Gwen, did not use IVF despite his claim. They used a less expensive and less invasive treatment that was not IVF — intrauterine insemination (IUI).

According to a video that the Harris-Walz campaign posted on August 9, 2024, Walz said:

If it was up to JD Vance, I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF. Democrats are investing in prenatal care. We’re the ones that are for universal pre-K. We’re the ones that are providing school meals. I’m not gonna back down one bit on this whole family values thing. We’re making it more affordable to have children by having paid family and medical leave. Where is JD Vance’s program? [Emphasis added]

On Tuesday, the New York Times revealed that Walz and his wife did not use IVF after all but IUI. The Times reported:

As Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has introduced himself to Americans through stump speeches across the country in recent weeks, he has alluded to a journey through infertility for his family while warning that conservatives want to restrict in vitro fertilization.

“Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business,” Mr. Walz said on the night that Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him in their first joint rally in Philadelphia. “Look, that includes I.V.F. And this gets personal for me and my family.”

The Times reported that “many have assumed” Walz and his wife relied on IVF to conceive their two children and noted that several news outlets — including his local newspaper, the Minnesota Star Tribune — have reported that. In April, Walz’s campaign office for governor even sent out a mailer that said, “My wife and I used I.V.F. to start a family.’’

However, when the newspaper asked for more details, the Harris-Walz campaign conceded it was a lie. The Times reported:

But when asked if the Walzes wanted to share more details about their effort to conceive, the Harris-Walz campaign recently clarified that the couple did not rely on I.V.F. but rather another common fertility procedure called intrauterine insemination, or I.U.I. [Emphasis added]

The Times reported that the two treatments have a “key distinction”: “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.”

Walz’s official campaign biography even explicitly mentions IVF instead of IUI. It says:

Governor Walz and Mrs. Walz have two children, Hope and Gus. 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.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (OH) posted Monday referencing the Times piece: “Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?”

Harris-Walz campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg told the Times that Walz was talking “how normal people talk.”

“He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments,” she said.

However, Walz has mentioned IVF numerous times in posts that specifically regard IVF, which some pro-life advocates want to ban.

Walz posted on Facebook after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February that frozen embryos used in IVF treatments should be considered children, “Gwen and I have two beautiful children because of reproductive health care like I.V.F.” He added, “Don’t let these guys get away with this by telling you they support I.V.F. when their handpicked judges oppose it.”

He also called the Alabama Supreme Court decision a “direct attack on my children.”

In 2017, he spoke at an annual event for the infertility advocacy group Resolve, and its president, Barbara Collura, told the Times she left with the impression that Walz was an “IVF dad.” She said she was “surprised but not bothered” to learn that the Walzes used IUI.

The revelation that the Walzes used IUI instead of IVF comes amid a scandal over Walz falsely claiming throughout his political career that he is a “retired command sergeant major.” He is, in fact, not a retired command sergeant major but a retired master sergeant, which is a rank below command sergeant major.

He has not addressed why he falsely claimed to be a retired command sergeant major or addressed other questions regarding his military service.

The Harris-Walz campaign did address one false claim, which appeared in a video that the campaign itself circulated. In the video, Walz claimed in 2018 that he carried weapons “in war.” His military service record showed that Walz never deployed to a combat zone or served “in war.” The campaign said he “misspoke.”

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