ICYMI Video: Blumenthal Calls for Protections to IVF Access for Veterans and Servicemembers on the Senate Floor

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) spoke on the Senate floor on Tuesday in support of the Veteran Families Health Services Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to ensure that veterans and servicemembers, especially wounded warriors, have access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

“This measure essentially provides, guarantees, for active duty servicemembers and veterans, access to IVF. It expands adoption assistance at the V.A. and counseling services for couples navigating that process,” said Blumenthal. “And there is very little to be said that wouldn't repeat the basic common sense of this proposal, and it shouldn't even be need to be said that military families don't choose where they live. They're assigned to one state or another, one country or another. When they answer the nation's call, they don't sign up for service in Connecticut at the SUBASE. They sign up, and they raise their right hand, and their access to IVF shouldn't be dependent on the state where they are assigned or the country.”

Video of Blumenthal’s remarks can be found here. A transcript of Blumenthal’s speech is available below.

Thank you. I'm very proud to be here today, Mr. President, to join my great colleague from the state of Washington to support the Veteran Families Health Services Act.

At a time when there are many, many complex and difficult issues—some of them nowhere near black and white, a lot of gray areas of policy abroad and at home—there is one issue that ought to be absolutely clear, unequivocally, in terms of what we should do, the right thing to do, the, really, obligatory thing to do. And that is to make sure that our men and women who serve in uniform and our veterans have access to the health care they deserve and, in particular, reproductive health care, and most especially IVF treatment.

Now, the Alabama Supreme Court in the LePage Decision is another step in the assault on women's rights and women's health care and, in fact, on women. The kinds of restrictions placed on IVF treatment have been essentially disowned and disavowed by many Republicans who want to run away as far as they can, as quickly as they can from that decision, and are saying, “Oh, well we're in favor of IVF. But not against laws that restrict IVF.” Well, they can't have it both ways. And here's a chance for them to show, in supremely important terms, that they're in favor of this kind of treatment for our men and women who in some sense have earned it and deserve it more than, or as much as, any other American. Because they're the ones who put on uniforms and defend our rights and our freedoms. And they're the ones who afterwards come back to their communities as veterans and continue to serve us.

This measure essentially provides, guarantees, for active duty servicemembers and veterans, access to IVF. It expands adoption assistance at the V.A. and counseling services for couples navigating that process. And there is very little to be said that wouldn't repeat the basic common sense of this proposal, and it shouldn't even be need to be said that military families don't choose where they live. They're assigned to one state or another, one country or another. When they answer the nation's call, they don't sign up for service in Connecticut at the SUBASE. They sign up, and they raise their right hand, and their access to IVF shouldn't be dependent on the state where they are assigned or the country.

It ought to be available to every servicemember, regardless of their posting. They defend our rights every day, and we must protect theirs with this bill. And veterans who have completed their service honorably deserve the same protection in access to family planning services. Our veterans who receive care at the V.A. deserve the highest standard, the gold standard, not some diluted standard because of a state law that restricts access to IVF. Their lives are already complex and challenging enough. We shouldn't complicate them further with administrative barriers.

And I will just repeat what I said on the Floor the other day in favor of IVF treatment. There is nothing so moving and so profound as a family who wants a child and is having difficulty having it. There is nothing so moving as two parents or people who want to be parents. And in our military, that predicament is especially moving because they have committed to give up a part of their lives—one could say, their lives—to serve our country, and we should make sure that they have access to this fundamental right.

Again, I thank my colleague from the state of Washington, and I thank other colleagues who will be here today and all who are supporting this important measure, which we should be proud to support. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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