- US Vice President JD Vance and wife Usha decided to try for a fourth child after Charlie Kirk's assassination
- They already have three children aged 8, 6, and 4
- The tragedy deeply affected them after comforting Kirk's widow Erika in Utah
US Vice President JD Vance has revealed that the assassination of his 'friend' and conservative influencer Charlie Kirk motivated him and his wife, Usha Vance, to try for a fourth child. In a guest op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, excerpted from his book "Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith", Vance recalled he had been asking Usha Vance to try for the fourth child for years, but she was not keen on the idea till she met Turning Point USA founder's grieving widow, Erika Kirk, after his death.
"For years I had asked Usha to have another baby, and for years she had told me she was done --especially now that public service had elevated us into the national spotlight," he wrote.
The Vances already have three children-- Ewan (8), Vivek (6) and Mirabel (4).
He noted that after his "best friend and closest confidant in the world of politics" was fatally shot at a Utah college campus last year, he and his wife flew to Utah to help a grieving Erika Kirk escort her husband's body back to Arizona.
"As my wife held Charlie Kirk's widow on the first day of her terrible sorrow, Erika told Usha between sobs that she regretted having only two kids with Charlie," Vance wrote.
According to the US leader, the conversation changed "something" for Usha Vance, and "not long after we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth child, a boy."
"One life was stolen from us, but another was given. I don't know why God does things like this. But I am grateful to Him that there will soon be another source of joy in our lives. Another person added to the communion of our family and hopefully to that of the Church. Another person to whom I will sing, 'Jesus loves me, this I know.' Another beautiful soul to wonder at and fall in love with God's beautiful creation," he added.
Vances would be the fourth 'second family' of the US to have babies while in office. In his first public address as vice president, Vance had said he wanted "more babies in the United States of America".
While announcing Usha Vance's fourth pregnancy, Vance had claimed that he wanted to try for a child when he decided to run for vice president. However, according to him, at the time his wife gave him two options, "Well, you can become vice president, or you can have a fourth baby." He then said he "got both" because he was "persuasive".
Usha Vance has since described her decision to try for the fourth child in her own words. In an interview with NBC, she had said, "People have asked me if we're going to have a fourth baby, and I've never closed the door on that. I grew up in a family of two, and I thought that was a great number. And then I had two kids, and I thought -- I didn't feel quite done, right? So I really wanted to have a third child."
According to Usha Vance, while her family once felt complete with three children, she later became "more and more excited about that possibility".
"And so if there was a chance, I should take it," she added.
