In 60-year-old Tim Walz, Kamala Harris found a partner to advocate for reproductive rights
WASHINGTON — The ingredients of a presidential ticket started six months ago in an unusual place: an abortion clinic in Minnesota.
At the time, it was a historic visit for Vice President Kamala Harris — no president or vice president had ever made a public stop there. But the visit laid the groundwork for Harris to reach out to the Minnesota governor. Tim Walz and learn about his interest in reproductive health, an issue Harris has spearheaded during her tenure in the White House.
At first glance, the 60-year-old governor might not seem like the most likely political proxy to talk about abortion and pregnancy. But Harris found a partner with a track record of raising abortion access in his condition and can easily talk about the problems his own family has with infertility.
Walz has already captivated crowds in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with the story of his daughter’s birth, made possible through in vitro fertilization treatments. The procedure involves retrieving a woman’s eggs and combining them with sperm in a lab dish to create a fertilized embryo that is placed in the woman’s uterus in hopes of creating a pregnancy.
His wife, Gwen, underwent seven years of fertility treatments before their daughter was born. Phone calls from Gwen during those years were often heartbreaking, he said, until one day she called, crying, with the good news that she was pregnant.
“It is no coincidence that we named our daughter Hope,” he told the crowd in Philadelphia and again on Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The couple also have a son, Gus.
Walz caused a stir in Philadelphia on Tuesday, his first appearance as Harris’ vice presidential nominee, with a warning to Republicans.
“Even if we didn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own business,” Walz told an audience that roared in response. Harris smiled and clapped behind him. “Look, that includes IVF. And this is going to be personal for me and my family.”
Democrats have warned that access to contraception and fertility treatments could be at stake if Republicans win big this election. Concerns were heightened after an Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos can be considered as childrenwhich has called into question fertility treatments for people in the state. Both Democrats and Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, condemned the verdictalthough some conservatives have said they support it.
Most Americans — about 6 in 10 — support protecting access to IVF, according to an AP-NORC poll carried out in June. However, less opinion has developed on the question of whether the destruction of embryos created through IVF should be prohibited. About 4 in 10 are neither for nor against a ban on the destruction of embryos created through IVF, while a third are for and a quarter are against.
Walz’s experience with reproductive problems is not just personal.
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion, Walz signed a state law declaring that Minnesotans have a “fundamental right” to abortion and contraception.
Since Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate, some conservatives have criticized the bill as extreme, saying it would allow women to have abortions if they are too far along in their pregnancy. Abortion rights groups have praised the choice.
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Associated Press journalists Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.