Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday morning — and he spoke at a Pennsylvania rally just hours later. One of the very personal topics he discussed was his family's experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF).
"When my wife and I decided to have children, we spent years going through infertility treatments," he said in a video of the rally shared by AP. "And I remember praying every night for a call for good news."
He went on to describe "the pit in my stomach" and "the agony" when the treatments didn't work. "So it wasn't by chance that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope," he said, looking thoughtful as the crowd burst into cheers.
Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, endured a seven-year struggle with infertility, according to his interview with the Star Tribune in March. Today, as a result of reproductive medicine, they have two children: their daughter Hope, born in 2001, and son Gus, born in 2006.
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Although Walz described his very personal experience with IVF and reproductive medicine, he noted that infertility affects almost everyone in some way.
In March, he posted on Facebook: "Gwen and I have two beautiful children because of reproductive health care like IVF. This issue is deeply personal to our family and so many others."
The post was in response to a Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said embryos created by IVF are considered children, stoking fear about legal repercussions for unused embryos in the state.
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He continued this train of thought when he wrote on X recently, "Even if you’ve never gone through the hell of infertility, someone you know has. When Gwen and I were having trouble getting pregnant, the anxiety and frustration blotted out the sun."
At yesterday's rally, he also cautioned people from judging others.
"In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make, even if we wouldn't make the same choice ourselves," he said at yesterday's rally. "There's a golden rule: mind your own d--- business. That includes IVF."
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