The VA Will Now Pay For Fertility Treatment For Wounded Vets

For the first time in almost 25 years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will pay for In Vitro Fertilization for wounded veterans.

As NPR's Quil Lawrence explains, Congress has reversed a law passed in 1992 that "prohibited the Department of Veterans Affairs from paying for IVF for veterans and their families." Quil tells our Newscast unit that "inside the stopgap spending bill passed this week is a provision to allow fertility treatments including IVF through VA health care." Here's more from Quil:

"Attempts to change that law have been blocked in recent years by opponents of abortion, since embryos are often destroyed in the IVF process.

"But political pressure has mounted as hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan vets returned with blast wounds and other injuries that affect their reproductive abilities."

He adds that while the VA did not fund IVF for veterans until now, the Pentagon's health system did – for active duty troops who suffered "combat-related reproductive injuries."

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine says IVF costs an average of $12,400 per cycle, as Quil has reported...