Tim Walz allegedly lied about fertility treatments, but his wife admits they underwent IUI

Tim Walz's wife has confirmed that she did not give birth to their daughter through artificial insemination. The Democrat's rival, JD Vance, accused him of lying about the fertility treatment the couple underwent.

Mr Walz, The Democratic vice-presidential candidate for the US elections in November had previously hinted that he and his wife Gwen had undergone artificial insemination to conceive their daughter.

But now Ms. Walz explained to Glamour magazine that they had used intrauterine insemination (IUI) and not IVF.

During IUI, sperm are introduced into the woman’s uterus during ovulation.

In IVF, an egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in the laboratory. The fertilized egg, called an embryo, is then returned to the woman's uterus to grow and develop.

Ms Walz told Glamour: “Our journey to fertility has been an incredibly personal and difficult experience.

“Like so many who experienced these challenges, we largely kept it to ourselves at the time.

“We haven’t even shared the details with our wonderful and close family.”

Ms Walz said a neighbor, a nurse, helped give her “the shots” she needed as part of the IUI treatment.

During his campaign, Walz mentioned the couple's difficulties in conceiving a child, suggesting that Republicans wanted to restrict access to IVF and women's reproductive rights.

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“All we wanted was something that seemed so simple – to have this child,” Mr Walz said previously.

He has never said directly that he and his wife had their children through artificial insemination, but some of his previous statements suggest that this was the case.

In February, Mr Walz wrote on Facebook that he and his wife “have two beautiful children thanks to reproductive healthcare like IVF.”

And last month, Mr. Walz said in a podcast that if Mr. Vance had his way, the Democrat “wouldn’t have a family because of IVF and the things we need to do in the area of ​​reproduction.”

“My children were born in this direct way – you know, this way,” he added.

Mr Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, accused Mr Walz of lying about the IVF treatment.

“Today it came out that Tim Walz lied when he said he wanted a family through IVF. Who lies about something like that?” Mr Vance wrote on social media.

Mia Ehrenberg, a spokeswoman for the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign, said he had used “commonly understood acronyms for fertility treatments” in his previous comments.

She told Sky's US partner broadcaster NBC: “The Trump campaign's attacks on Ms. Walz are just another example of how cruel and out of touch with reality Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women's healthcare.”

Dr. John Storment, a reproductive endocrinologist in Louisiana, said confusing IVF and IUI is a common mistake made by patients' husbands.