The Department of Veterans Affairs under Joe Biden is set to expand taxpayer-funded fertility treatments to unmarried persons, including homosexual couples and would-be single parents.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough said “raising a family is a wonderful thing” and he was “proud that VA will soon help more Veterans have that opportunity.”
Previously, fertility treatments were only available to married, heterosexual couples. Now, qualified veterans will have access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donated sperm or eggs.
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who has helped to push the “inclusive” changes, said they were “an important step forward that will help more veterans start and grow their families — and it’s especially timely as IVF is under attack from the far right.”
Murray was likely referring to an Alabama court ruling that fertilized embryos qualify as children, leading some fertility treatments in the state to be paused amid fears disposing of unviable or unused embryos could be a crime.
Far from endorsing this, Republican leader Donald Trump urged lawmakers in the state to protect access to IVF. Legislators and the state governor quickly passed a law doing so.
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