CNN’s Jake Tapper knocked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic vice presidential nominee, for suggesting on the campaign trail that his family used in vitro fertilization (IVF) instead of another fertility treatment.
Tapper played a clip of Walz criticizing Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), his GOP counterpart, on MSNBC, where he said, “Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children.” Tapper then explained that the statement was inaccurate, noting Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz clarified that the couple used intrauterine insemination (IUI) when dealing with infertility.
“That's not accurate, right? I mean, it wasn't IVF. It was a different procedure, and his wife, Gwen Walz, the first lady of Minnesota's, taking care to tell CNN that they actually used the procedure called intrauterine insemination,” Tapper said on CNN’s “The Lead.”
The other panelists noted that IUI is part of a broader fertility process.
“IUI is part of the suite of fertility treatments as a step below IVF. It's direct insemination versus creating embryos,” former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said.
She also said one of the distinctions is that IUI “is not under attack anywhere the way IVF is,” but it a part of the “suite of options.”
CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers said his wife tried IUI twice when they were trying to have a child before trying IVF twice, but that “as a man, I would probably mess that up.” He did note that what Walz said was technically “not accurate.”
Vance jumped on Walz’s claims of using IVF in a social media post.
“Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” he wrote on the social platform X.
IVF includes inseminating an egg cell outside of the body before implanting the embryo in the uterus. IUI involves inseminating healthy sperm cells directly in the uterus, closer to the egg cells, to help boost chances of fertilization.
The Harris campaign has defended Walz’s previous comments and has shot back at Vance's attacks of him. IVF and reproductive rights are slated to be a major issue in the upcoming election as the Harris campaign has amplified its attacks on the GOP’s stance on abortion and IVF.
"The Trump campaign's attacks on Mrs. Walz are just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women's healthcare,” Mia Ehrenberg, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
“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,” she added.
Michael Tyler, Harris communications director, also responded to the criticism during a press briefing on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention.
“I think he’s being very clear so far that infertility is a deeply personal journey that both him and his wife have been courageous enough to share,” he said. “Frankly, I think it’s a little bizarre that JD Vance and Donald Trump want to attack the governor for experiencing something that other Americans have gone through themselves.”
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