The Pentagon will continue to reimburse service members who travel to get fertility treatments, the department confirmed this week, walking back its earlier move to fully repeal its reproductive health care travel policy.
Late last month, the Pentagon quietly updated its travel regulations[1] to remove all the language allowing service members to get travel and transportation allowances for trips related to reproductive health care. That meant travel was no longer covered for either abortion or fertility treatments.
But in a follow-up memo dated Feb. 4[2] that was similarly published on the Pentagon's travel regulations website without fanfare, the department clarified that it was not repealing the travel policy for fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization.
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"This item reestablishes the authority to travel for Non-Covered Assisted Reproductive Technology," said the newest memo, signed by Sarah Moore, deputy director of the Defense Travel Management Office. The memo last month "should not be interpreted as the elimination of access to non-covered Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF)."
Asked about the reversal Wednesday, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed the policy was again updated to allow for IVF-related travel, but did not provide a comment by Military.com's deadline on whether the earlier full repeal was a mistake or intentional.
The policy to provide travel reimbursement for a range of reproductive health care was first put in place by the Biden administration in response to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to ban abortion.
The Biden administration maintained that making it easier for troops to travel for reproductive health care was imperative to ensuring women join and stay in service since the biggest military bases are located in states that have banned or severely restricted abortion and service members cannot choose where they are stationed.
Republicans fumed against the policy, arguing that it violated a legal prohibition on federal funding being used for abortion. In protest of the policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., launched an 11-month blockade of senior military promotions that left the highest ranks of the military vacant and caused turmoil for military families counting[4] on the promotions.
At the same time, though, Republicans raced to declare their support for IVF after an Alabama court ruling suggested further restrictions on reproductive care were in store after the abortion bans. The Alabama court ruled that frozen embryos could be considered children under state law, which would not outright ban IVF but would make the procedure unfeasible.
After the Alabama court ruling, President Donald Trump vowed during his election campaign that the "government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for, all costs associated with IVF treatment." He also dubbed himself "the father of IVF" even as he acknowledged he was unfamiliar with the procedure until last year.
Despite the rhetoric, Republicans have blocked efforts to ease access to IVF. In addition to the Pentagon originally repealing the full reproductive care travel policy to comply with an executive order Trump issued on his first day in office, congressional Republicans last year scuttled a proposed expansion[5] of Tricare[6]'s coverage of IVF for troops.
The Pentagon's move to partially backtrack from repealing its reproductive health care travel policy was first reported by Task & Purpose[7].
Groups that blasted the Pentagon for repealing the travel policy last month commended the partial walkback to allow for IVF travel.
"The aggressive action taken by the new administration that didn't just target those seeking travel for abortion care, but service members and their dependents seeking fertility care was woefully out of touch," Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in a news release. "This is a step in the right direction for the Pentagon, but the support that we give to women in the military and military families can't stop there."
Related: Proposed Expansion of IVF Coverage for Troops Scuttled from Compromise Defense Bill[8]
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