Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) was not in favor of going to war in Iraq in 2002 but, since it happened anyway, she’s been fighting for veterans’ rights and their health care benefits when wounded warriors return home. One battle she’s taken on is getting Congressional approval and funding for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) to provide in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other forms of assisted reproductive technology (ART) for veterans who sustain wounds to the spine and genitourinary tract that renders them infertile.
Killing the Proposal in 2015
The bill Murray presented to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in July 2015 was basically killed in action before a vote was taken on it. Last-minute amendments Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) attached to the bill made the proposal so limited it would be useless.
At the time, Tillis cited limited funds and long waiting lists for veterans needing other services that were already being funded but the Republican Party was deeply embattled against Planned Parenthood, a factor many consider Tillis’s driving force. One of his last-minute amendments prohibited veterans and their families from getting treated for infertility at Planned Parenthood and other fertility centers that provide abortion in addition to IVF and other ARTs.
New Year, New Budget, New Battle, and (Limited) Victory
Murray kept her interest and her work on a passing proposal alive and finally achieved victory on September 29, 2016, when President Obama signed a bill that does allow fertility treatments, including IVF, for veterans who sustained injuries that caused infertility. Details such as dollar amounts for coverage have not been firmly established yet and funding will last for only two years before the bill expires.
24-Year Ban on Fertility Treatment for Wounded Warriors
Beginning in 1992, shortly after withdrawal from the Gulf War of the 1990s initiated by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, IVF was banned for all wounded warriors and their families. The ban has remained in effect for the last 24 years. Murray would like to repeal the ban forever and considers last week’s two-year approval for IVF the beginning of a larger campaign to win approval for these much-needed medical services to help make returning veterans’ lives whole again.
The Problem with IEDs
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been used extensively in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2007, as many as 63% of American and coalition deaths in Iraq were caused by IEDs. In Afghanistan thus far, 66% of American and coalition deaths have been caused by IEDs.
Some people survive these violent bomb blasts but survivors often sustain catastrophic injury to the lower half of their bodies. These explosive devices are typically buried along roadways where they explode when a soldier steps on or drives over them. They are frequently placed on the undersides of military vehicles where the blast begins below and travels upward. These violent blasts from below frequently cause permanent damage to soldiers’ spines and reproductive tracts that make natural parenthood impossible.
With Murray’s bill finally passed, even for a limited time, it will allow IVF treatment for soldiers where appropriate and surrogacy for female veterans who sustained injuries that make bearing a child impossible.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the Paralyzed Veterans of America organizations all expressed full support for Murray’s bill.
Sources:
Tritten, Travis. "Congress allows IVF coverage for wounded vets, with limits." Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes, 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
"War on Planned Parenthood Kills Bill Offering ART for Veterans." babyMed. BabyMed.com, Aug. 2015. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Yap, SA, SM DeLair, and LM Ellison. "Novel technique for testicular salvage after combat-related genitourinary injury." PubMed. The Journal of Urology / American Urological Association (Elsevier), Oct. 2006. US National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
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By Sandy Hemphill, Contributing Writer, BabyMed