Murray leads Veterans Families Health Services Act, legislation she has worked on for over a decade that would expand DoD and VA health care to include comprehensive family-building assistance for servicemembers and veterans—including IVF
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, applauded the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcement that VA will soon be able to provide in vitro fertilization (IVF) to eligible unmarried veterans and eligible veterans in same-sex marriages, and allow veterans to use donated gametes in IVF services. Murray also announced that she will seek unanimous consent for her legislation, the Veteran Families Health Services Act, which would expand IVF care for all veterans unable to conceive without assistance, as well as expand access to other fertility treatments and family-building services. VA’s announcement follows a move in January by the Department of Defense (DoD) to similarly expand covered IVF services to unmarried servicemembers and those who require donor gametes.
“VA’s announcement is an important step forward that will help more veterans start and grow their families—and it’s especially timely as IVF is under attack from the far right,” said Senator Murray. “Servicemembers and veterans have sacrificed so much for our country—but they should never have to sacrifice their ability to start a family. I have fought for over a decade to expand fertility care and treatment to more veterans and servicemembers, and I’m thrilled that DoD, and now VA, are making progress toward expanding their IVF services with new policies that will be life-changing for veterans and servicemembers who were for far too long excluded from care.
“However, there are still many veterans and servicemembers who lack the ability to conceive naturally and lack access to IVF under VA health care. That’s why I’ve worked for over a decade on legislation that would expand IVF and other fertility treatment to all veterans and servicemembers who need it—and this week I will seek unanimous consent on the Senate floor to pass my bill that would help more veterans and servicemembers build their families and ensure no future administration can rip away the progress DoD and VA have made.”
Senator Murray’s Veteran Families Health Services Act would expand VA and DoD’s current fertility treatment and counseling offerings in a major way and empower servicemembers and veterans to start families when the time is right for them. This legislation would:
- Permanently authorize and significantly expand fertility treatment and counseling options, including assisted reproductive technology like IVF, to more veterans and servicemembers and ensure that veterans’ and servicemembers’ spouses, partners, and gestational surrogates are appropriately included in eligibility rules.
- Allow servicemembers to cryopreserve (freeze) their gametes (eggs or sperm) before deployment to a combat zone or hazardous duty assignment and after an injury or illness—an important proactive fertility service that is not currently covered under DoD health care.
- Expand adoption assistance at VA, providing more family-building options for veterans with infertility.
- Provide support for servicemembers and veterans to navigate their fertility options, find a provider that meets their needs, and ensure continuity of care after a permanent change of station or relocation.
- Require VA and DoD to facilitate research on the long-term reproductive health needs of veterans.
As the daughter of a disabled World War II veteran, Senator Murray knows firsthand the sacrifice that military service demands—Murray specifically asked to be seated on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee when she first came to Congress and was the first woman to serve on the committee and the first woman to later Chair the Committee. Murray has been fighting to expand access to IVF care for veterans and servicemembers for well over a decade—she has previously introduced legislation that would address many of the challenges veterans face when it comes to starting a family following their service, and in 2012, she secured Senate passage of a provision to end the ban on IVF services at VA. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Senator Murray has consistently fought to protect servicemembers’ access to abortion.
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