Senator Patty Murray (above) is the former Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Her office issued the following yesterday.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                 CONTACT: Murray Press Office
Wednesday, February 11, 2015                                                            (202) 224-2834
VETERANS: Murray Introduces Bill to Cover Reproductive Services for Injured Servicemembers, Veterans, and Their Families
**Murray plans to introduce bill with speech on Senate floor at 11am PT/2pm ET
TODAY**
Murray
 bill would expand DoD’s current fertility treatment programs,
end VA ban on in vitro fertilization (IVF)
Murray: “The men and women who serve in our military put their lives and bodies on the line for our country, and the least
 we can do is provide them with the health care services they need when they get home, including access to fertility treatments”
(Washington, D.C.) 
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced a bill to allow the 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) 
to provide reproductive
 services, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), to servicemembers, 
veterans and their families who have suffered catastrophic wounds of war
 that prevent them from starting families.
 The Women Veterans and Families Health Services Act of 2015 would expand the current fertility services
 offered to servicemembers and their families by DoD, and end the ban on in vitro fertilization services at the VA.
“The men and women 
who serve in our military put their lives and bodies on the line for our
 country, and the least we can do is provide them with the health care 
services they need
 when they get home, including access to fertility treatments,” said Senator Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Because
 of outdated policies at the Pentagon and the VA, thousands of seriously
 ill or injured veterans cannot access reproductive services like in 
vitro fertilization, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars from 
private providers. When we send men and women
 to war, we promise to take care of them when they return home.  That’s 
why I’ve introduced legislation to fill this shocking gap in care for 
our seriously injured servicemembers and veterans.”
Read the one-pager here:
http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5d39b1c7-ec65-4d6a-a8e5-b7c0888fd3ab/wvfhsa-one-pager.pdf
After more than a 
decade of war, thousands of servicemembers and veterans struggle with 
fertility and reproductive health. While VA and DoD offer some forms of 
fertility treatment and
 counseling, far too often they fail to meet the needs of these 
seriously injured servicemembers and veterans. Today, severely injured 
servicemembers are faced with the choice of pursuing these treatments 
before separation or paying tens of thousands of dollars
 out of pocket later.  Severely injured veterans do not have a choice at
 all. The
cost of IVF treatments
 is about $7,000 per cycle within the Military Health
 System, but almost doubles to $12,400 (and above) per cycle for 
civilians or veterans who currently cannot receive these services from 
VA because of the ban.
Data from DoD shows that between 2003 and 2013, more than 2,300
 servicemembers have suffered reproductive and urinary tract trauma. The
 reliance on foot
 patrols in Afghanistan and the prevalence of improvised explosive 
devices has left servicemembers far more susceptible to these injuries.
Though
 DoD currently provides IVF, too many servicemembers are excluded from 
eligibility for this and other treatments. The VA is completely barred 
from providing IVF services because
 of an outdated law. Senator Murray’s bill would expand VA and DoD’s 
current fertility treatment and counseling offerings and empower 
severely injured servicemembers and veterans to start families when the 
time is right for them. The bill would lift VA’s assisted
 reproductive technology (ART) ban (of which IVF is the most popular and
 successful treatment) and expand ART treatments beyond DoD’s current 
policy limitations. Senator Murray’s bill would also provide access to 
fertility treatment for spouses, allow VA to
 provide adoption assistance, and make permanent the highly successful 
child care pilot program in VA.
###
Leah Kennebeck
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834