The Pentagon has clarified that service members can have their out-of-state travel costs for in-vitro fertilization treatment covered, after previously announcing on Jan. 29 that the program had been revoked.
In late January, the Department of Defense announced that it would cancel the Biden Administration-era policy, which authorized funding for service members and their dependents to travel to states where abortion procedures are legal. The policy had also covered other reproductive treatments like IVF and birth control that were not covered under military insurance.
But in a Joint Travel Regulations Change update that went into effect Feb. 4, the Defense Department announced the policy rescission “should not be interpreted as the elimination of access” to non-covered assisted reproductive technology like IVF. The policy also covers procedures for ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval, sperm collection, intrauterine insemination and cryopreservation.
Since Sept. 30, 2024, the policy has been used 25 times to cover out-of-state travel for IVF treatments, according to a defense official.
Another policy issued during the Biden Administration allowed service members to take an administrative absence — without losing pay or being charged for their leave — to access or accompany their military spouse or dependent for reproductive health care not covered by their military insurance. The administrative absence policy was used 711 times since September, according to the defense official.
The defense official noted that the Department of Defense tracks the number of times that the policy was used, not the number of individuals that used it.
The revoked travel policy, approved under the Biden administration, was implemented after the Supreme Court kicked abortion legality back to the states “to ensure that service members and their dependents can access care regardless of where they are stationed.”
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