'Mind your own business': Gwen Walz scolds JD Vance after IVF comments

MANASSAS - Gwen Walz, the first lady of Minnesota and wife of Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, chided Republican vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance of Ohio for his views on family during her first solo campaign event in Virginia on Friday.

“Now, I read that JD Vance said he was really disturbed by teachers who don’t have biological children. 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,” Walz said at an “Educators for Harris-Walz” event.

“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.”

More: 'We want more babies': Trump's IVF plan draws flak from right and left

“Let me use my teacher voice: Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business,” Walz said, to claps, cheers and jeers from the room full of educators – and they repeated it with her: “Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business.”

Walz’s remarks followed Vance’s accusation that his Democratic rival lied about using in vitro fertilization to conceive their two children: their daughter Hope, aged 23, and their son Gus, aged 17. The Republican’s claim was in response to a Glamour magazine article dated August 19, revealing conception was through IUI versus IVF.

IUI may or may not require medication for follicle growth, but Gwen Walz described to Glamour how a neighbor who was a nurse helped her administer “the shots I needed as part of the IUI process.” (“She would give me the shots to ensure we stayed on track.”)

In speeches, Harris has attacked former President Donald Trump’s abortion position and painted Republicans as a threat to women’s rights, including access to birth control, abortion medication and fertility treatments.

Trump said on Thursday he would require the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF fertility treatments if he is elected in November, a move likely aimed at appealing to women and suburban voters.

“[He] strongly supports ensuring women have access to the care they need to create healthy families, including widespread access to IVF, birth control, and contraception, and he always will,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Friday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gwen Walz slams JD Vance's comments over IVF, infertility treatments