I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 220
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to provide coverage for infertility treatment and standard fertility
preservation services, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY7, 2025
Ms. B
ROWNLEY(for herself, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Ms. MOOREof Wis-
consin, Ms. T
LAIB, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. LANDSMAN, Mr.
T
HOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. GARCIAof Texas, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms.
N
ORTON, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. PINGREE,
Mrs. R
AMIREZ, Ms. LEGERFERNANDEZ, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. STRICKLAND,
Mr. T
ONKO, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. LARSONof Connecticut, Mr. LEVIN, Ms.
R
OSS, and Mr. CASAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to provide coverage for infer-
tility treatment and standard fertility preservation serv-
ices, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Infertility 4
Treatment Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. INFERTILITY TREATMENTS FOR VETERANS. 1
(a) A
UTHORITY.—Chapter 17 of title 38, United 2
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1720J 3
the following new section (and conforming the table of sec-4
tions at the beginning of such chapter accordingly): 5
‘‘§ 1720K. Infertility treatment and standard fertility 6
preservation services 7
‘‘(a) T
REATMENT AND SERVICES.—(1) In furnishing 8
medical services under this chapter, at the election of a 9
covered individual and subject to paragraph (4), the Sec-10
retary shall furnish to the covered individual infertility 11
treatments (including through the use of assisted repro-12
ductive technology), standard fertility preservation serv-13
ices, or both. 14
‘‘(2) In the case of in vitro fertilization treatment fur-15
nished under paragraph (1), the Secretary may furnish 16
to a covered individual under such paragraph not more 17
than three completed in vitro fertilization cycles that re-18
sult in live birth or 10 attempted in vitro fertilization cy-19
cles, whichever occurs first. 20
‘‘(3) The Secretary may furnish in vitro fertilization 21
treatment under paragraph (1) using donated gametes or 22
embryos. 23
‘‘(4) The Secretary may not furnish to a covered indi-24
vidual an in vitro fertilization cycle or other treatment or 25
service under paragraph (1) unless the Secretary receives 26
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consent for such cycle, treatment, or service from each of 1
the following: 2
‘‘(A) The covered individual. 3
‘‘(B) If the covered individual is a partner of a 4
covered veteran, the covered veteran. 5
‘‘(C) If applicable, the third-party donor. 6
‘‘(b) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-7
tion shall be construed to require the Secretary to furnish 8
maternity care to a covered individual, in addition to what 9
is otherwise required by section 1786 of this title or other 10
provisions of law. 11
‘‘(c) R
ELATIONSHIP TOSTATELAW.—The legal sta-12
tus, custody, future use, donation, disposition, or destruc-13
tion, of gametes or embryos relating to treatment or serv-14
ices furnished under this section shall be determined in 15
accordance with the law of the State in which the gametes 16
or embryos are located. 17
‘‘(d) P
AYMENTS FOR BENEFICIARYTRAVEL FOR 18
P
ARTNERS.—For purposes of paying travel expenses 19
under section 111 of this title for treatment or services 20
furnished under this section to a partner of a covered vet-21
eran, the Secretary shall deem the partner to be a veteran 22
receiving treatment or care under this chapter. 23
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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‘‘(1) The term ‘assisted reproductive tech-1
nology’ includes in vitro fertilization and other infer-2
tility treatments. 3
‘‘(2) The term ‘covered individual’ means a cov-4
ered veteran or a partner of a covered veteran. 5
‘‘(3) The term ‘covered veteran’ means a vet-6
eran who is enrolled in the system of annual patient 7
enrollment established under section 1705(a) of this 8
title and— 9
‘‘(A) has infertility; or 10
‘‘(B) is at risk of having infertility, as de-11
termined by a licensed physician based on— 12
‘‘(i) the medical, sexual, and repro-13
ductive history, age, physical findings, or 14
diagnostic testing, or a combination there-15
of, of the veteran; or 16
‘‘(ii) any planned medication therapy, 17
surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or other 18
medical treatment. 19
‘‘(4) The term ‘infertility’ means a disease, con-20
dition, or status characterized by— 21
‘‘(A) the inability of a person to reproduce 22
either as an individual or with the partner of 23
the individual; or 24
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‘‘(B) the failure to conceive a pregnancy or 1
to carry a pregnancy to live birth after one year 2
of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. 3
‘‘(5) The term ‘partner’, with respect to a vet-4
eran, means an individual selected by the veteran 5
who agrees to share with the veteran the parental 6
responsibilities with respect to any child born as a 7
result of the use of any infertility treatment under 8
this section. 9
‘‘(6) The term ‘standard fertility preservation 10
service’ includes the procurement, cryopreservation, 11
and storage of gametes and embryos.’’. 12
(b) A
PPLICABILITY; REGULATIONS.— 13
(1) A
PPLICABILITY.—Except as provided by 14
paragraph (3)(A), section 1720K of title 38, United 15
States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall apply 16
with respect to infertility treatment and standard 17
fertility preservation services furnished by the Sec-18
retary of Veterans Affairs beginning on the date on 19
which the Secretary prescribes regulations under 20
paragraph (2). 21
(2) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than one year 22
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-23
retary shall prescribe regulations to carry out section 24
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1720K of title 38, United States Code, as added by 1
subsection (a). 2
(3) I
NTERIM POLICIES.— 3
(A) C
ONTINUITY OF SERVICES.—Except as 4
provided by subparagraph (B), an individual 5
who on the day before the date on which the 6
Secretary prescribes regulations under para-7
graph (2) is receiving counseling and treatment 8
furnished by the Secretary pursuant to existing 9
infertility authority may elect to— 10
(i) continue receiving such counseling 11
and services pursuant to the existing infer-12
tility authority, subject to the limitations 13
of that authority; or 14
(ii) begin receiving such counseling 15
and services pursuant to section 1720K of 16
title 38, United States Code, as added by 17
subsection (a), subject to the limitations of 18
that section that shall be applied in a man-19
ner that recognizes such counseling and 20
services previously furnished under the ex-21
isting infertility authority. 22
(B) E
XPANSION OF SERVICES .—During 23
the period beginning 180 days after the date of 24
the enactment of this Act and ending on the 25
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date on which the Secretary prescribes regula-1
tions under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall 2
ensure that counseling and treatment furnished 3
pursuant to existing infertility authority include 4
the following elements: 5
(i) The Secretary may furnish such 6
counseling and treatment to the partner of 7
a veteran covered by such provision with-8
out regard to whether the partner and vet-9
eran are married. 10
(ii) The Secretary may furnish such 11
counseling and treatment using donated 12
gametes or embryos. 13
(4) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 14
(A) The term ‘‘existing infertility author-15
ity’’ means section 234(a)(1) of the Military 16
Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related 17
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022 (division J 18
of Public Law 117–103; 136 Stat. 556), or 19
other provisions of law administered by the Sec-20
retary of Veterans Affairs enacted before the 21
date of the enactment of this Act that provide 22
authority to the Secretary to furnish fertility 23
counseling and treatment. 24
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(B) The term ‘‘partner’’ has the meaning 1
given that term in section 1720K of title 38, 2
United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 3
Æ
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