is hard to miss. Memes and social media posts — some , some — have proliferated as online progressives celebrate “America’s dad.” Walz reminds me of my dad, too.
But in a different way. about his family’s experience with assisted reproductive technologies, more commonly known as fertility treatments. Walz and his wife, Gwen, had their daughter, Hope, through intrauterine insemination (IUI) in 2001, after of trying to have children.
(Although Walz has sometimes used “IVF” as a catch-all term to refer to the fertility treatments his family went through, , and it is often a first option for families struggling to conceive.) Since 1978, over 10 million children globally are believed to have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies, . I am one of those 10 million, as is my brother.
When my parents got married in 1996, they knew they wanted to start a family. When they had trouble conceiving naturally, they decided to pursue fertility treatments. They started with IUI and then tried IVF.
They were devastated when the first treatments failed. But after the second round of IVF, they were pregnant — with twins. My brother and I arrived in August 2000.
We wouldn’t exist without IVF. And when I hear Walz speak about the importance of access to fertility treatment, it reminds me of my own parents. My dad is the most emotive person I know.
He’s never been the stoic macho type. In fact, when I called him to check some facts for this essay, he cried..