Gabby Giffords reveals IVF dream ‘stolen’ by shooter and calls Vance's views ‘disgraceful’

Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords shared that she and her husband Sen. Mark Kelly, who has been shortlisted as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris, were trying to have a child through in vitro fertilization before an attempted assassin nearly ended her life.

In a post on the social media app X, Giffords responded to a clip of Vance’s resurfaced — and widely spread — remarks about “childless cat ladies” running the government, by stating “Vice President [Kamala Harris] is a proud mom of two remarkable stepchildren–and so am I.”

“[Mark Kelly] and I were trying to have a baby through IVF before I was shot and that dream was stolen from us,” Giffords wrote. “To suggest we are somehow lesser is disgraceful.”

Read also: Kamala Harris V.P. contender starts taking shots at J.D. Vance

Giffords was nearly killed and suffered ongoing brain damage in the 2011 shooting. She subsequently became a staunch advocate for gun control, forming a PAC with Kelly to advocate for stricter gun laws.

Democratic Florida Senate candidate Mike Harvey responded to Giffords with his support, calling her and Kelly’s family “a true American success story.”

“For anyone, especially a low hanging freshman senator, to say anything else isn’t just an insult, it’s evil,” Harvey wrote. “The type of evil you can’t pray for, it’s the kind you have to cast out.”