Courtesy of Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and also signed by Bob Good of VA:

"We are writing to express our strong objections over the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recent announcement that it will expand in vitro fertilization (IVF) to eligible unmarried Veterans and eligible Veterans in same-sex marriages. The announcement creates a plethora of ethical concerns and questions.

We appreciate some of the steps that the VA has taken to help veterans who are unable to have children, specifically providing for reimbursement of adoption expenses. There are around 400,000 children in foster care nationwide, and approximately 117,000 are waiting to be adopted. The VA also provides fertility and infertility care to help veterans who struggle with infertility. It would make more sense to use the funds that the expansion of IVF will cost to bolster adoption efforts at the VA.

IVF is morally dubious and should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer. It is well known that IVF treatments result in a surplus of embryos after the best ones are tested and selected. These embryos are then frozen—at significant cost to the parents—abandoned, or cruelly discarded. Parents’ uncertainty of what to do with the additional embryos and inclination to leave them frozen for many years rather than discarding them points to their inherent humanity. The new VA policy is shocking not only on a moral level, but on a political and legal level as well. The press release announcing this new policy states, “VA has advocated for this IVF expansion for years, including submitting repeated legislative proposals to expand IVF services at VA.”"



[Post edited by CMUHoo at 03/21/2024 11:47AM]