Several businesses in the Columbia area will offer discounts and freebies to honor Veterans Day. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently expanded access for veterans to receive a key fertility treatment — a move that comes after lawsuits accusing the VA of discriminating against veterans who are in same-sex marriages, who are unmarried and who cannot produce their own sperm or egg cells.
For years, the VA had limited eligibility for in vitro fertilization services to only married veterans who were capable of producing their own eggs and sperm within that relationship. It was a rule that excluded other veterans in Missouri and across the country who needed the treatment to conceive children.
Under the VA’s policy change, which took effect at the end of March, veterans can receive IVF benefits regardless of their marital status, and they are now allowed to use donor sperm, eggs and embryos.
But there’s a catch, advocates say. A larger, underlying barrier to access remains: To receive IVF benefits, veterans still must prove that their infertility is a disability that was caused by their military service.
Making that case, advocates and experts said, can be more difficult than proving other kinds of service-connected disabilities because fertility can be affected by many factors — and sometimes a cause cannot be determined.
“There are a number of veterans and active-duty service members who need IVF, who could benefit from IVF, but they’re not going to be eligible,” said Alicia Christy, a former deputy director of reproductive health in the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Women’s Health.
“The question I ask elected officials is, if you’re willing to give your life and service to this country, what kind of medical benefits do you deserve?” said Christy, who also is a retired Army colonel.
Infertility can be caused by physical injury on the battlefield. But officials at Paralyzed Veterans of America, a national veterans advocacy group, have argued that requiring veterans to prove that their infertility is connected to military service penalizes those whose infertility has an undetermined or hidden cause.
“With so many possible causes, proving that infertility is connected to service when […]
Expanded IVF benefits for veterans don’t solve access problems, advocates say
