Sponsors (129)
Official title: To protect and expand nationwide access to assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization.
Introduced July 23, 2026 by Lori Trahan · Last progress July 23, 2026
The bill greatly expands and protects nationwide access to ART/IUI and fertility preservation—especially for federal beneficiaries, military members, and marginalized groups—but does so at the cost of higher public and private spending, greater federal-state legal conflicts and litigation, implementation burdens, and some unresolved drafting and conscience-accommodation tensions.
People covered by federal, state, and employer-sponsored plans (including Medicare, Medicaid, FEHB, and private pregnancy/maternity plans), plus many uninsured people interacting with those systems, will have greatly expanded access to IVF, IUI, fertility preservation, and related ART services through new mandatory coverage and authorization rules.
Individuals nationwide (including in states with restrictive laws) and providers are protected: the bill preempts conflicting state bans and shields providers from state penalties so people can obtain and clinicians can deliver ART, IUI, egg/embryo cryopreservation, donation, and related services.
Active-duty service members, veterans, and their partners gain comprehensive fertility supports—required fertility preservation before hazardous deployments, storage continuity after separation, coverage for multiple retrievals and transfers, and payment for donor gametes when needed—improving military family-building options.
Taxpayers, employers, and enrollees could face higher costs: mandatory and expanded coverage (Medicare/Medicaid, FEHB, DoD/VA, private plans) and payment for donor material will likely raise premiums, increase program spending, and require new appropriations or higher contributions.
Preempting state laws reduces states' ability to set medical practice and safety rules around ART, potentially creating conflicts over safety standards and undermining state regulatory authority.
A broad private right of action and fee‑shifting could trigger more litigation against states, plans, and providers, generating legal costs, uncertainty, and resource drains as parties defend or contest requirements.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal right to access ART and IUI, requires many health plans to cover specified fertility diagnostics and treatments, extends benefits to uniformed service members, and adds FEHB coverage.
Creates a federal right to receive and provide assisted reproductive technology (ART) — including IVF, egg/embryo cryopreservation and donation — and intrauterine insemination (IUI), and preempts State laws that would prohibit or restrict those services. It requires group and individual health plans that cover maternity or pregnancy-related benefits to also cover specified diagnostic services, IUI, and a defined set of ART services, and it extends similar fertility benefits to members of the uniformed services and to Federal employees' health benefits. Grants enforcement tools including private rights of action and authority for the Attorney General to sue States that enforce prohibitions; requires HHS to write implementing regulations within 180 days; directs the Department of Defense to provide ART/IUI and related counseling to service members and dependents (including up to three completed oocyte retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers for IVF); and amends federal employee benefits to add ART/IUI coverage effective one year after enactment.