JD Vance is accusing Tim Walz of lying about using in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, to have children − and the back-and-forth raises important points about the differences between IVF and intrauterine insemination, or IUI.
On X Tuesday, Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, wrote: “Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” Vance also shared an interview clip of Walz in which he says that, if it were up to Vance, he “wouldn’t have a family because of IVF and the things that we need to do reproductively.”
Vance’s post comes after a Glamour magazine article Monday, in which Walz’s wife Gwen shared she conceived via IUI. Tim and Gwen Walz have two children: daughter Hope, 23, and son Gus, 17.
Gwen said in the article that recent legislation restricting IVF inspired her to speak out about how fertility procedures have impacted her. “After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country — particularly the efforts in Alabama that jeopardized access to fertility treatments — Tim and I agreed that it was time to formally speak out about our experience,” she said.
What is the difference between IUI and IVF?
IUI and IVF are not the same. The biggest difference between them is that the former involves egg fertilization inside the body while the latter happens outside.
IVF begins with patients taking medication to stimulate ovary follicle growth, gynecologist Dr. Karen Tang previously told USA TODAY. Doctors then conduct a procedure to retrieve those eggs, during which they put the patient under anesthesia and use a long, thin needle that’s inserted through the vagina.
Following this procedure, medical professionals fertilize the eggs with sperm. Then the “resulting embryos are grown and evaluated for appearance and quality,” Tang added.
What is IVF?Explaining the procedure in Alabama’s controversial Supreme Court ruling.
In some cases, the embryos are tested genetically, such as if one of the patients is a carrier for a serious medical condition or if they’ve experienced several miscarriages. The “highest quality embryos are then transferred into the uterus,” Tang said.
