Gwen Walz, the wife of Minnesota governor Tim Walz, held her first solo campaign event in Manassas, Virginia on Thursday where she took aim at Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance on their comments on reproductive rights. Referencing recent comments by Trump on making IVF treatment free for all, Walz said that Trump was responsible for overturning the Roe v Wade judgment, which threatened IVF treatment in the first place. A former teacher, Walz also scolded Vance with her "teachers' voice" for his 'childless cat lady' comment on women with no children.
“Now, I read that JD Vance said he was really disturbed by teachers who don’t have biological children," Gwen Walz said at the event in Manassas. "Well, for a long time, Tim and I were teachers who struggled with infertility and we were only able to start a family because of fertility treatments.
“So, this is really personal for me, and I think it is for millions of Americans. We do not take kindly to folks like JD Vance telling us when or how to start our families.”
Before becoming Minnesota’s first lady, Gwen Walz was an English teacher and said teaching is one of her “passions.” Tim and Gwen Walz have regularly criticised Republicans over IVF and reproductive rights after trying to have a child for years.
“Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business?” she added.
With reproductive rights being a major issue in the US election already, and with Kamala Harris gaining ground over Donald Trump in key battleground states, Trump in a Michigan rally on Thursday said that if elected, he will make IVF treatment free for all families. Although he did not lay out a concrete policy proposal or any other details about how he planned to make the promise a reality, he said he would make either the state or the insurance companies pay for IVF treatment, which among the most expensive treatments in the US.
Gwen Walz responded to the 78-year-old's remarks, pointing out Trump's historical opposition to IVF and giving women reproductive rights.
“So here are the facts and there aren’t any alternatives to these,” she said. “Donald Trump is the one who took down Roe and put access to IVF at risk. That’s a fact. And he’s running on a platform that puts these treatments at risk nationwide and that’s a fact.”
“But he knows that position is wildly unpopular and guess what? That’s a fact,” she added.