Thousands of troops have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe injuries to their reproductive organs or with head injuries or paralysis that make IVF their best option for having children. A law was passed in 1992, however, that made it illegal for the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for IVF. This may now finally be changing.
On June 23, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to begin to offer in vitro fertilization services to wounded veterans. A previous version of the bill was passed in both the House and Senate in previous weeks. Although this newest version has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate must still vote on the measure and it must be signed off by the President.
The American Society of Reproductive Medicine has fully supported this new legislation and has worked for several years to ensure that this legislation becomes law. We will hopefully see this happen in the coming months.