Bicameral legislation would provide a major expansion of family-building services—from IVF to adoption assistance—covered by DoD and VA
WASHINGTON — Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) backed the Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2025. This legislation 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.
“Our servicemembers and veterans shouldn’t have to give up the dream of having a family,” said Senator Gallego. “They’ve put everything on the line for this country, and we owe it to them to make family-building services as accessible as possible. This bill will give veterans and servicemembers the same chance to build a family as the millions of Americans their sacrifices protect every day.”
While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) currently offer some forms of fertility treatment and counseling, these offerings are extraordinarily limited and difficult for veterans to access, even when they are technically eligible—and far too often, these benefits fail to meet the needs of servicemembers and veterans.
Last year, DoD and VA announced policy changes that expanded IVF services and the use of donated gametes to certain eligible unmarried veterans and servicemembers, and those in same-sex marriages—which had previously been barred—but it still left the vast majority of veterans and servicemembers without access to covered fertility services.
The Veteran Families Health Services Act of 2025 would expand the 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. This 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.
- Require VA and DoD to facilitate research on the long-term reproductive health needs of veterans.
This legislation builds on Senator Gallego’s record of advocating for veterans and military families. This year, he has introduced the Putting Veterans First Act to protect veterans, military spouses, and VA employees indiscriminately targeted in the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts at VA and across the federal government; the bipartisan Veterans Education and Technical Skills (VETS) Opportunity Act that extends educational benefits in the post-9/11 GI Bill to include partially online (or hybrid) versions of skilled trade training programs; the VA Home Loan Awareness Act to make it easier for those who have served our country to buy a home; and the Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Actwhich would make it easier for veterans with disabilities to be made financially whole in the event they are defrauded of their benefits. He also backed the Right to IVF Act to protect IVF from Republican attacks for the millions of Americans—including servicemembers and veterans—who rely on it to grow their families.
The Veteran Families Health Services Act is supported by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
A one-pager about the bill can be found HERE.
The full text of the bill can be found HERE.
8/7/25