Helping Veterans

RESOLVE is helping veterans to build their family using IVF by continuing the fight for justice in reproduction rights. We advocate to make #IVF4Vets a permanent benefit through the passage of important federal legislation. Learn more and get involved.

Imagine being seriously wounded while serving in the military. The Veterans Administration (VA) covers all of your medical treatment. But, if your injuries have impaired your reproductive system so that when you want to start a family, your doctor tells you that IVF is the only treatment option — then you are out of luck. Unfortunately, IVF is barred from the list of services able to be provided by the VA due to outdated regulations.

That’s what motivated RESOLVE and veteran's groups to fight to change the VA policy. In late 2016, we won a significant victory: we got Congress to pass a bill allowing the VA to cover IVF for veterans with a service-connected injury.

In March 2024, the VA announced a major expansion of its IVF policy. This change means that more veterans can now access fertility treatment through the VA than ever before.

Here’s what’s new:

• Eligibility expanded: IVF is now available to eligible veterans regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. This includes single veterans and veterans in same-sex marriages.
• Use of donor material: For the first time, veterans who cannot use their own sperm or eggs because of a service-connected injury or illness may use donor sperm, donor eggs, or donor embryos.

What hasn’t changed:

• IVF coverage is still limited to veterans with a service-related injury or illness that caused their infertility.
• Surrogacy remains excluded from VA benefits.
• Adoption assistance is available for veterans with a service-connected disability—up to $2,000 in expenses.

The Veteran and Families Health Services Act of 2025 was introduced in August. This bill would expand 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) 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.
• 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.