Walz faces criticism for misleading IVF language

Republicans are jumping on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) for making misleading statements about the infertility treatment he and his wife used, accusing the vice presidential nominee of lying for political expediency. 

Earlier this week, would-be second lady Gwen Walz shared that she and her husband opted for intrauterine insemination (IUI) to deal with infertility, not in vitro fertilization (IVF) as some of the governor’s prior remarks and statements had erroneously suggested.

Tim Walz frequently referenced using treatments “like IVF” when accusing Republicans of seeking to limit access to the service and has been even more explicit at times. While the Harris-Walz campaign says the governor was using language that more people could understand, with IUI being a lesser-known treatment, conservatives are saying he was blatantly deceptive.  

“It’s just such a bizarre thing to lie about, right?” the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), told reporters Wednesday. “There’s nothing wrong with having a baby through IVF or not having a baby through IVF. Like, why lie about it? I just don’t understand that.”

Donald Trump Jr. posted on social platform X that Walz had “been caught lying about his wife undergoing IVF treatment,” while Meghan McCain wrote online, “I don’t know why this man keeps calling everyone else weird when he is embellishing a truly bizarre level of falsehoods in his life story.” 

GOP strategist Matt Wolking similarly turned Walz’s critique of Republicans as being “weird” back against him. 

“This is the kind of lie that sticks in voters’ minds. It’s weird, and makes people think they can’t trust anything Walz says, especially after his misrepresentations of his military service have drawn so much attention,” Wolking said.  

Even CNN’s Jake Tapper was critical of Walz’s previous statements in which he said, “Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children,” with the anchor noting, “That’s not accurate.” 

Walz’s ability to speak personally about infertility was seen as one of his strengths on the campaign trail, reinforcing Vice President Harris’s fluency on reproductive rights issues that have tripped up Republicans.

His experience drew a particularly stark contrast with Vance, who faced a barrage of attacks after his condescending comments about “childless cat ladies.” The Harris-Walz campaign has painted Vance as unsympathetic to those struggling to have children. 

But that advantage now might not be so robust.

“Walz lied about using IVF as part of Democrats’ effort to falsely accuse JD Vance and other Republicans of opposing IVF, but the truth is that Walz used an entirely different procedure that does not result in extra embryos being discarded,” Wolking said. 

“It’s a fundamental difference, and you can’t just make things up about your life story because it’s better for your political narrative, but that’s exactly what Walz has done in multiple instances.” 

While IUI and IVF are both under the umbrella of infertility treatments, IUI does not require embryos to be fertilized outside of a woman’s body — a key distinction since some Christian conservatives believe life starts at conception, or fertilization in this case. 

While most elected Republicans have not outright opposed IVF, many agree that fertlized embryos should be considered the same as children, putting them in agreement with a court ruling in Alabama that effectively shut down IVF clinics in that state. Multiple embryos are created during IVF and disposal of some embryos is a standard part of the procedure. 

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 vision includes recognizing human life from the moment of conception. And while it does not outlaw IVF, allowing patients to sue providers over frozen embryos could in practice make the treatment too risky for clinics to provide. 

The IUI process is generally cheaper, less involved but also less successful than IVF. Walz has spoken of the agony of enduring many rounds of unsuccessful fertility treatment. 

Reproductive rights activists say that while the Walzes did not go through IVF, this week’s disclosure doesn’t invalidate their struggle with infertility or the risks that Republican policies pose to the full spectrum of reproductive health services. 

“I think, first, it’s worth noting that the broader ecosystem here is about attacks on reproductive freedom more broadly and that includes the full range of fertility treatments and reproductive health care,” Ally Boguhn, spokesperson for Reproductive Freedom for All, told The Hill.  

“And a lot of those providers are the same folks. So, if you are banning IVF, you might be pushing those providers out of the state. You might be banning those clinics and so, it really is going to have a ripple effect.” 

Boguhn noted that for many prospective parents struggling with infertility, attempting IUI is often required by insurers before they agree to cover IVF. She said Republicans are “grasping at straws” in their accusations against Walz, a sentiment shared by Democrats at the party’s convention this week. 

“They are flailing at this point. Why don’t they come together and actually help us get IVF protections? That’s what the American people are asking us to do — families who are going through these expensive, painful, emotional fertility treatments,” Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip and a leading voice in the party in defense of women’s reproductive health options, told The Hill. 

The accusations of lying don’t appear to have deterred Walz from speaking on the issue, with the Minnesota governor telling Republicans in his Democratic National Convention speech Wednesday to “mind your own damn business.” 

However, the governor appeared to use slightly more careful language, talking about IVF and other fertility treatments, rather than referring to his family utilizing treatments “like IVF,” as he and the campaign had done previously. 

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make and even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: mind your own damn business and that includes IVF and fertility treatments,” Walz said. 

“This is personal for Gwen and I. If you’ve never experienced the hell that is infertility, I guarantee you know somebody who has, and I can remember praying each night for a phone call,” he added. “The pit in your stomach when the phone would ring and the absolute agony when we heard the treatments hadn’t worked. It took Gwen and I years but we had access to fertility treatments.” 

Alex Gangitano contributed reporting