Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign has selected Nicole Shanahan, a Bay Area lawyer and Democratic donor, as his running mate. Shanahan, 38, has been a vocal critic of in vitro fertilization (IVF), calling it "one of the biggest lies that's being told about women's health today." Her stance on IVF sets her apart from other presidential candidates, as the procedure is broadly popular and has been defended by both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Shanahan's criticism of IVF stems from her personal experience with the procedure. While trying to conceive her first child, she was told she would not be a good candidate for IVF due to polycystic ovary syndrome. Two years later, she naturally conceived her daughter. Dissatisfied with her experience, Shanahan began funding research into "reproductive longevity," which she believes is "the natural progression of the women's rights movement."
In multiple interviews, Shanahan has questioned the financial incentives involved in fertility treatments. "Many IVF clinics are financially incentivized to offer you egg freezing and IVF and not incentivized to offer you other fertility services," she told The New Yorker in 2023.
During Nicole Shanahan’s speech after RFK Jr. announced she will be his running mate, she spoke in length about how the Republican Party has left its voters behind.
“As I’ve reexamined my Democratic Party assumptions, I have seen conservative voters with new eyes too… And yet… pic.twitter.com/7n7iSrdLuY — Christian Movick (@ChristianM_74) March 28, 2024
As the founder and president of the Bia-Echo Foundation, Shanahan has contributed millions of dollars to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, focusing on "reproductive longevity and equality." She has also expressed interest in funding unconventional research, such as studying the effects of morning sunlight on reproductive health.
"I try to imagine where we would be as a field if all of the money that has been invested in IVF, and all of the money that's been invested into marketing IVF, and all of the government money that has been invested in subsidizing IVF, if just 10 percent of that went into reproductive longevity research and fundamental research, where we would be today," Shanahan said in a webinar hosted by the Buck Institute in 2021.
Shanahan's background includes being raised on welfare in Oakland, California, as the child of a Chinese immigrant mother and an American father who dealt with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound and later received a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Shanahan founded and served as CEO of ClearAccessIP, a patent analytics company, which was acquired by IPwe in 2020.
In 2018, Shanahan married Google co-founder Sergey Brin, with whom she has a daughter. The couple divorced in 2022 following reports of an alleged affair between Shanahan and tech billionaire Elon Musk, which both parties deny.
As a wealthy entrepreneur, Shanahan is expected to help Kennedy with the expensive task of accessing the ballot in all 50 states, which the campaign estimates could cost $15 million. She has donated to many Democratic candidates in the past, including Pete Buttigieg, Marianne Williamson, and Joe Biden, and has described herself as a "lifelong Democrat."
While Shanahan has echoed Kennedy's stance on vaccine injuries, saying, "I think there needs to be a space to have these conversations," her views on IVF have drawn criticism. Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, which has endorsed Biden, called Shanahan's criticisms "junk science" and emphasized that IVF is a long-established reproductive health technology.
