I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8034 

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 

AUGUST 14, 2020 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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 Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide coverage for infertility treatment and standard fertility preservation services, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Infertility 

5 Treatment Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INFERTILITY TREATMENTS FOR VETERANS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 17 of 

3 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following new section: 

5 ‘‘§ 1720J. Infertility treatment and standard fertility 

6 preservation services 

7 ‘‘(a) TREATMENT AND SERVICES.—(1) In furnishing 

8 medical services under this chapter, the Secretary shall 

9 furnish infertility treatments (including through the use 

10 of assisted reproductive technology), standard fertility 

11 preservation services, or both, to a covered veteran or a 

12 spouse, partner, or gestational surrogate of a covered vet13 eran, if the veteran and the spouse, partner, or gestational 

14 surrogate of the veteran, as applicable, apply jointly for 

15 such treatments or services, or both, through a process 

16 prescribed by the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(2) In the case of in vitro fertilization treatment fur18 nished under paragraph (1), the Secretary may furnish 

19 not more than three completed cycles that result in live 

20 birth or six attempted cycles of in vitro fertilization, 

21 whichever occurs first, to an individual under such para22 graph. 

23 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec24 tion shall be construed to require the Secretary— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to find or certify a gestational surrogate 

2 for a covered veteran or to connect a gestational sur3 rogate with a covered veteran; or 

4 ‘‘(2) to furnish maternity care to a covered vet5 eran or spouse, partner, or gestational surrogate of 

6 a covered veteran, in addition to what is otherwise 

7 required by section 1786 of this title or other provi8 sions of law. 

9 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘assisted reproductive tech11 nology’ includes in vitro fertilization and other fer12 tility treatments in which both eggs and sperm are 

13 handled when clinically appropriate. 

14 ‘‘(2) The term ‘covered veteran’ means a vet15 eran who— 

16 ‘‘(A) has infertility; and 

17 ‘‘(B) is enrolled in the system of annual 

18 patient enrollment established under section 

19 1705(a) of this title. 

20 ‘‘(3) The term ‘infertility’— 

21 ‘‘(A) means a disease or condition charac22 terized by— 

23 ‘‘(i) the failure to conceive a preg24 nancy or to carry a pregnancy to live birth 


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1 after one year of regular, unprotected sex2 ual intercourse; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) the inability of a person to repro4 duce either as an individual or with the 

5 partner of the individual; and 

6 ‘‘(B) includes instances in which a person 

7 is at risk of being described in clauses (i) or (ii) 

8 of subparagraph (A), as determined by a li9 censed physician based on— 

10 ‘‘(i) the medical, sexual, and repro11 ductive history, age, physical findings, or 

12 diagnostic testing, or a combination there13 of, of the person; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) any planned medication therapy, 

15 surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or other 

16 medical treatment. 

17 ‘‘(4) The term ‘partner’, with respect to a vet18 eran, means an individual selected by the veteran 

19 who agrees to share with the veteran the parental 

20 responsibilities with respect to any child born as a 

21 result of the use of any infertility treatment under 

22 this section.’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 at the beginning of chapter 17 of such title is amended 


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1 by inserting after the item relating to section 1720I the 

2 following new item: 

‘‘1720J. Infertility treatment and standard fertility preservation services.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. ADOPTION ASSISTANCE FOR SEVERELY WOUNDED 

4 VETERANS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter VIII of chapter 17 of 

6 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 1789. Adoption assistance 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may pay an 

10 amount, not to exceed the limitation amount, to assist a 

11 covered veteran in the adoption of one or more children. 

12 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION AMOUNT.—For purposes of this 

13 section, the limitation amount is the amount equal to the 

14 cost the Department would incur by paying the expenses 

15 of three adoptions by covered veterans, as determined by 

16 the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(c) COVERED VETERAN DEFINED.—In this section, 

18 the term ‘covered veteran’ has the meaning given that 

19 term in section 1720J of this title.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 at the beginning of chapter 17 of such title is amended 

22 by inserting after the item relating to section 1788 the 

23 following new item: 

‘‘1789. Adoption assistance.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON INFERTILITY TREATMENT 

2 FURNISHED BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

3 AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) REPORT.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

5 shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

6 Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

7 House of Representatives reports on the infertility treat8 ment furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs 

9 during the year preceding the submission of the report. 

10 The Secretary shall submit such reports as follows: 

11 (1) An initial report by not later than one year 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (2) A second report by not later than November 

14 11, 2022. 

15 (3) Annual reports beginning in 2023. 

16 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report submitted under sub17 section (a) shall include, for the period covered by the re18 port, the following: 

19 (1) The number of veterans who received infer20 tility treatment furnished by the Department of Vet21 erans Affairs, disaggregated by era of military serv22 ice of such veterans. 

23 (2) The number of spouses, partners, and ges24 tational surrogates of veterans who received infer25 tility treatment furnished by the Department. 


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1 (3) The cost to the Department of furnishing 

2 infertility treatment, disaggregated by cost of serv3 ices and administration. 

4 (4) The average cost to the Department per re5 cipient of infertility treatment. 

6 (5) In cases in which the Department furnished 

7 infertility treatment through the use of assisted re8 productive technology, the average number of cycles 

9 per person furnished, disaggregated by type of treat10 ment. 

11 (6) A description of how infertility treatment 

12 services of the Department are coordinated with 

13 similar services of the Department of Defense and 

14 the Indian Health Service, respectively. 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘as16 sisted reproductive technology’’, ‘‘infertility treatment’’, 

17 and ‘‘partner’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec18 tions 1701 and 1720J of title 38, United States Code, 

19 respectively, as amended by this Act. 

20 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS ON FURNISHING OF INFERTILITY 

21 TREATMENT AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE BY 

22 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

23 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

25 Veterans Affairs shall prescribe regulations— 


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1 (1) to carry out section 1720J of title 38, 

2 United States Code, as added by section 2; and 

3 (2) to carry out section 1789 of such title, as 

4 added by section 3. 

5 (b) INTERIM POLICIES.—During the period begin6 ning 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act 

7 and the date on which the regulations are prescribed 

8 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that fer9 tility counseling and treatment furnished pursuant to sec10 tion 235 of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, 

11 and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020 (division 

12 F of Public Law 116–94) or other provisions of law ad13 ministered by the Secretary include the following elements: 

14 (1) The Secretary may furnish such counseling 

15 and treatment to the partner of a veteran covered by 

16 such provision without regard to whether the partner 

17 and veteran are married. 

18 (2) The Secretary may furnish such counseling 

19 and treatment using donated gametes or embryos. 

20 (c) PARTNER DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

21 ‘‘partner’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

22 1720J of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 

23 2. 


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1 SEC. 6. FACILITATION OF REPRODUCTION AND INFER2 TILITY RESEARCH. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 of 

4 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 7330D. Facilitation of reproduction and infertility 

7 research 

8 ‘‘(a) FACILITATION OF RESEARCH REQUIRED.—The 

9 Secretary shall facilitate research conducted collabo10 ratively by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

11 Health and Human Services to improve the ability of the 

12 Department of Veterans Affairs to meet the long-term re13 productive health care needs of veterans who have infer14 tility conditions that affect the veterans’ ability to repro15 duce. 

16 ‘‘(b) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The Sec17 retary shall ensure that information produced by the re18 search facilitated under this section that may be useful 

19 for other activities of the Veterans Health Administration 

20 is disseminated throughout the Veterans Health Adminis21 tration.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

23 at the beginning of chapter 73 of such title is amended 

24 by inserting after the item relating to section 7330C the 

25 following new item: 

‘‘7330D. Facilitation of reproduction and infertility research.’’. 


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1 (c) REPORT.—Not later than three years after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet3 erans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report on the re4 search activities conducted by the Secretary under section 

5 7330D of title 38, United States Code, as added by sub6 section (a). 

Æ 


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