Rep. Larsen on helping our wounded warriors recover — and start families

||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. RICK LARSEN |||

When a military service member is wounded in the line of duty, they often face unimaginable struggles to get back a sense of normalcy. Whether that is physical recovery from injuries, or the emotional trauma of being wounded, we owe it to our women and men in uniform to do everything we can to help them resume their lives at home.

And that includes helping them start a family.

For too many wounded warriors, their injuries make it difficult to have children.

To add a literal insult to their injuries, Congress passed a law in 1992 that means that some fertility health care services are refused to these brave women and men.

That is outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. And I am doing something about it.

Alongside Washington’s U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Illinois’s U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (who knows a thing or two about sacrifice for this country), I am proud to have helped introduce a new law to expand options for our wounded service members who want to start families.

We call it the Veterans Families Health Services Act of 2021, and it is absolutely essential we get this done.

This includes not only helping these service members have access to cryopreservation technology if they are being deployed into harm’s way, but also allowing them to easily navigate fertility options once they return.

There should be nothing standing in the way of our women and men in uniform if they wish to start a family; especially if they have paid such a steep price for their service.

I hope to make significant progress on this legislation in the coming weeks and months, because leaving our service members behind when it comes to starting families is unacceptable. And there is no reason this needs to be partisan or political whatsoever.

Stay tuned.