August 01, 2025

Duckworth, Murray, Booker, Schumer Reignite Push to Help Veterans Struggling with Infertility Grow Their Families

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in reintroducing legislation to help make it easier for our Veterans who struggle with infertility to build their families. Their Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2025 would expand the fertility treatments and family-building services that are covered under servicemembers’ and Veterans’ health care to include—among other things—in vitro fertilization (IVF) and adoption assistance for servicemembers and Veterans who are unable to conceive without assistance and the option for individuals to freeze their eggs or sperm ahead of deployment to a combat zone. This legislation was previously included as part of Senator Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act, which Senate Republicans blocked not once, but twice last year.

“After all the tremendous sacrifices our brave women and men in uniform make, we should be doing everything we can to help our Veterans fulfill their dreams of building a family,” said Duckworth. “I wouldn’t be a mother today without the miracle of IVF, which is one reason why I’m proud to be introducing this important bill that would help modernize our healthcare systems and expand fertility treatments so we can help ensure our servicemembers and Veterans receive the care they deserve.”

Veterans and servicemembers experience higher rates of infertility than civilians and encounter restrictive laws and policies before they can access IVF services.

The Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2025 would expand VA and DoD’s current fertility treatment and counseling offerings in a major way and empower servicemembers and Veterans to start or grow their families when the time is right for them. Specifically, the legislation would:

  • 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.
  • 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.
    • Right now, only individuals who are married to opposite-sex partners that can provide gametes for IVF are eligible for IVF services under DoD or VA health care—this excludes all unmarried Veterans and servicemembers whose partners are infertile, the same sex or unable to provide gametes. This legislation would allow Veterans and servicemembers to use gestational surrogates for covered IVF services for the very first time. Additionally, the legislation would remove onerous burdens of proof that currently make it very difficult for many Veterans to access IVF services even when they do meet the requirements.
  • 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.
  • Direct the VA and DoD to facilitate research on the long-term reproductive health needs of Veterans.

Along with Duckworth, Murray, Booker and Schumer, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Tina Smith (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

The Veteran Families Health Services Act is supported by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

Full text of the legislation is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.

Throughout her time in the Senate, Duckworth has made protecting reproductive freedom a top priority in the face of Republicans’ anti-choice crusade. Last month, Duckworth secured her provision to ensure IVF treatment costs are covered on servicemembers’ and military families’ health care plans in the committee-passed Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In June, Duckworth introduced the Protect IVF Act that would establish a nationwide right to access IVF.

Last year, Duckworth was the lead sponsor of her Right to IVF Act—a package that includes Senator Murray’s Veteran Families Health Services Act and would both establish a right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART), expand access for hopeful parents, Veterans and federal employees, as well as lower the costs of IVF for middle class families across the country. When Senate Republicans blocked the Right to IVF Act from passing in September of last year, the vote marked the fourth time Senate Republicans blocked Duckworth-led legislation that would protect access to IVF nationwide.

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