Tim Walz has declared his family’s IVF experience. But they acclimated an altered procedure

WASHINGTON — In March, afterwards an Alabama cloister apoplectic in vitro fertilization procedure in the state, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz assertively to allege about his attempt to accept accouchement with his wife, Gwen. 

The aforementioned month, his aggregation beatific a fundraising email blue-blooded “our IVF journey” administration and commodity that referenced “his family’s IVF journey” in the headline.

And beforehand this month, Walz criticized Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican applicant for carnality president, by saying, “If it was up to him, I wouldn’t accept an ancestor because of IVF.”

In introducing himself to voters as Democratic presidential appointee Kamala Harris’ active mate, Walz has fabricated his family’s attempt with abundance an axial allotment of his narrative, an actual way to affix with voters abashed at the abrasion of changeable rights in the U.S. But Gwen Walz on Tuesday issued an account that abundant the acquaintance added assiduously and appear that they relied on an altered action accepted as intrauterine insemination, or IUI.

IUI is generally attempted afore IVF but doesn’t face the aforementioned akin of political altercation because it doesn’t accident antibacterial bare embryos that anti-abortion advocates say agree to approaching 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,” Gwen Walz said in the statement. “She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process.”

Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokesperson, defended Walz’s comments and denied that he had been misleading.

“Governor Walz talks how normal people talk,” she said. “He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.”

Vance branded Walz a liar over his previous remarks on IVF.

“Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” Vance wrote on social media.

The discrepancy on what is considered a deeply personal topic for many families comes as Republicans have been scrambling to poke holes in his biography. He has also faced scrutiny over how he’s characterized his time in the military, though his supporters reject any criticism as politically motivated.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos could be considered children under state law. IVF procedures were temporarily halted, shocking people who were trying to become parents and injecting an emotionally sensitive issue into the national debate over reproductive rights.

Walz brought up the issue during his State of the State address in March. He did not specifically say that his wife underwent IVF treatment, but he did say the Alabama ruling was a “direct attack on my children.”

“All we wanted was something that seemed so simple   to have that child,” Walz said at the time. “What those judges did was a direct attack on our family.”

IUI involves placing a partner’s or donor’s sperm in the uterus at the time of ovulation. With IVF, a woman’s eggs are removed from her body, combined with the sperm and then transferred back into her uterus.

A couple’s approach to fertility treatments can differ based on their medical issues and insurance coverage, which sometimes requires attempting IUI before moving toward IVF.