Build your family with support from VA

Every Veteran’s journey to building a family is unique, and whether you’re just beginning to think about options or you’re exploring fertility treatments, it’s important to know that VA can support you along the way. You have access to a wide range of services that can help make parenthood a reality, and more Veterans can now receive the care needed to build a family.

VA’s family building services

If you and your partner need help conceiving or you’re a single Veteran wanting to become a parent, you may qualify for fertility services, in vitro fertilization (IVF) or an adoption reimbursement through VA.

VA’s fertility evaluation services may include medical history and physical exam, lab tests, imaging services (ultrasounds and X-rays) or genetic counseling and testing. And fertility treatments may include hormone therapy, surgeries and more.

Depending on your infertility’s cause, you may require assisted reproductive technology (ART). ART is any treatment or procedure that includes the handling of human eggs, sperm or embryos outside of the human body for the purpose of becoming pregnant, including options like IVF.

IVF is a procedure that involves taking an egg from a woman’s ovary and fertilizing it with sperm outside the body. The fertilized egg, called an embryo, is then allowed to grow in a safe environment for a few days. After that, the embryo can be placed into a uterus or frozen for future use.

Understanding infertility

If you or your partner are experiencing challenges becoming pregnant, you may need support for infertility. Infertility is a condition where you may have difficulty becoming pregnant after trying for a year or more. It can affect both women and men, and it means that having a baby is harder than expected because you may have:

• An inability to become pregnant based on your medical, sexual or reproductive history, age, physical health, diagnostic testing results or any combination of these factors; or
• A need for medical intervention, such as the use of donor eggs, donor sperm, or donor embryos to become pregnant, either on your own or with a partner.

Expanded eligibility

Fertility evaluations and some treatments are available to all Veterans using VA health care regardless of your service connection, sexual orientation, gender, relationship or marital status. VA has recently expanded eligibility for ART or IVF to include unmarried Veterans and Veterans in same-sex marriages, and if you are legally married, your spouse may also receive fertility benefits.

To be eligible for ART/IVF benefits through VA, you must have a service-connected disability determined by Veterans Benefits Administration that caused your infertility. This means that your disability or its treatment caused your difficulty in getting pregnant.

Certain Veterans may be able to obtain or purchase donated sperm, eggs or embryos in your ART/IVF treatments, a critical step toward supporting Veterans whose service-connected injuries or health conditions prevent you from becoming pregnant.

Veterans who are eligible for VA ART/IVF benefits are also eligible to receive an adoption reimbursement benefit, which includes up to $2,000 per adopted child under the age of 18 years with maximum reimbursement of $5,000 in any calendar year for adopting multiple children under the age of 18.

Accessing VA fertility services

To begin your journey, speak with your VA primary care provider to be referred to a community fertility specialist. From maternity care coordination, reproductive health and mental health care to benefit options in education, employment, housing and food assistance, VA is here to provide personalized support to meet your family’s needs.

Visit the VA Women’s Health Fertility Services webpage to learn more.

You can also call, text, or chat with the Women Veterans Call Center (1-855-VA-WOMEN) to speak to someone who can walk you through your eligibility and enrollment or connect you to care and services you can trust.