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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we all know it is Women's History Month; and though this work should be done year round, during March especially, we focus on policies that improve the lives of women in America, including the lives of women veterans.

For most of America's history, America's Armed Forces were made up primarily of men in uniform. Not anymore. Today, more than 17 percent of the Active-Duty Force in America are women. As our Armed Forces better reflect the diversity of America, that means our support system and resources for veterans must also meet the needs of that population.

And one of those resources must be supporting our veterans and servicemembers when they want to start a family. Those who serve our Nation are at an elevated risk for injury. That is part of the reason we owe them such a debt of gratitude. They do risk life and limb to protect America.

But when servicemembers are injured in the line of duty, one consequence can be obstacles to conceiving children. That is why we should pass the Veteran Families Health Services Act immediately. This comprehensive legislation will expand fertility treatments and family- building services that are covered under servicemembers and veterans' healthcare plans. This includes services across the board to safeguard future fertility, adoption assistance, and, most likely, in vitro fertilization.

Access to IVF recently came into the national spotlight when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children and that their destruction can be treated like the wrongful death of a child. That decision by the Alabama Supreme Court had major consequences on reproductive rights in Alabama as major healthcare providers stopped IVF procedures out of fear of civil and criminal liability.

Not surprisingly, Republicans across the country started scrambling, fearing that such an unpopular restriction on reproductive rights could hurt their electoral chances in the next election.

In the weeks since the ruling, Republicans have claimed to support access to IVF, and yet many also support so-called fetal personhood bills that codify that life begins at conception and lack carve-outs to protect access to IVF. The simple reality is you can't have it both ways. Although Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a law last week that attempted to ensure that IVF treatments continued in her State, many legal experts and fertility doctors are still concerned that the rush to stopgap that measure will do more harm than good.

And when Senator Tammy Duckworth--my Illinois colleague, a veteran herself who relied on IVF to start her family--came to this floor of the U.S. Senate and asked for unanimous consent to pass a bill that would establish Federal protection for access to IVF and other fertility treatments, a Republican Senator blocked it.

If the Republicans are truly pro-family, pro-military, as they claim to be, there should be no hesitation supporting this bill that supports our servicemembers and veterans who want to start a family.

Let me make one thing clear. No one should have to choose between serving our Nation and having a child. We should be expanding these services, not restricting them. Our servicemembers sacrifice much to keep our families safe. The least we can do is to make sure they have the full range of care options they need to start families of their own.

I want to thank the Senator from Washington, Patty Murray, for calling us together for this important stand, one that I think will benefit families across the board and, certainly, benefit veteran families who want to start a family.

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