Sponsors (20)
Introduced August 1, 2025 by Richard Ray Larsen · Last progress August 1, 2025
The bill substantially expands fertility and family‑building benefits for active-duty members and veterans—improving equitable access and continuity of care—while increasing federal healthcare costs and creating implementation, legal, and logistics challenges that may leave some costs and responsibilities with individuals.
Active-duty service members, veterans, their spouses/partners, and gestational surrogates gain covered access to IVF and related fertility treatments (including up to three oocyte retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers), expanding ability to have biologically related children.
Service members and covered veterans who require donor gametes or embryos will have reasonable procurement costs reimbursed (and VA may cover travel/incidental expenses), reducing out-of-pocket expenses for those who need donors.
DoD is required to provide timely fertility preservation (retrieval and cryopreservation) after injuries/illnesses and before hazardous deployments, preserving reproductive options for injured or exposed service members.
Taxpayers and the defense/VA healthcare systems will face increased spending to cover expanded fertility services and donor reimbursements, potentially requiring tradeoffs or additional appropriations and affecting other programs.
Former service members and veterans may bear short-term costs and logistical burdens when storage and transfer obligations end (one-year post-separation) or when the Secretary cannot retain custody of genetic material, forcing rapid private arrangements.
Requiring copayments for VA-covered fertility services may create financial barriers for low-income veterans, limiting access despite authorization of the services.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires DoD and VA to provide fertility treatment, counseling, and fertility preservation to eligible service members, veterans, and designated partners or surrogates, including limited IVF and donor coverage.
Requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide fertility treatment, counseling, and certain fertility-preservation services to eligible service members, veterans, and specified partners or surrogates. The policy is explicitly inclusive of all sexes, sex characteristics, gender identities, sexual orientations, infertility diagnoses, and marital statuses; it authorizes limited IVF cycles, allows use and reimbursement of donated gametes or embryos, and directs DoD to preserve reproductive material when active-duty injury or illness may threaten fertility.