Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Carolyn Hax: New mom with spendy lifestyle whines at having to go back to work

Ask Amy: Should I accept my estrangement from my brother?

Miss Manners: Since when do school dances require a limo and dinner?

Under pressure from all sides, Netanyahu refuses to change course in Gaza

With Europe’s support, North African nations push migrants to the desert 

E.U. sets precedent with plan to use profits from frozen Russian assets

Glamour and glitter on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival

In photos: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi dies at 63

How cockroaches came to rule the world

This ‘doomsday’ glacier is more vulnerable than scientists once thought

Mosquitoes are swarming around Houston. The future could bring even more.

6 things to know as Memorial Day kicks off ultra-busy summer of travel

The race up a Hong Kong tower covered in 40 feet of buns

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

‘I ran into her yesterday’: RFK’s strange non-relationship with his VP pick

How Trump’s latest comments could violate his gag order again

Republicans discover a secret elixir that cures dementia with one dose

Nats find their hitting shoes — and running shoes — and snap skid

Keibert Ruiz is supposed to be a Nationals pillar, not an unexpected drag

10 Memorial Day events, celebrations and tributes in the D.C. area

The military is encroaching on Mexican democracy

Vietnam arrested a trade reformer. Why this is worrisome.

Iran has lost its president. Its people need to regain their freedom.

Would you eat this weird sandwich? Barry Enderwick would. 

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Exactly how stupid was what OpenAI did to Scarlett Johansson? 

Scarlett Johansson says OpenAI copied ‘Her’ voice after she said no

Burned out on screens, people are sending lengthy voice notes instead

US President Joe Biden Arrival

iStock

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it will cover in vitro fertilization treatment for qualifying veterans who are single or in same-sex marriages, after it faced legal challenges last year that said its policies were discriminatory.

VA had for years covered IVF costs for veterans with injuries and health conditions from their military service that affected their fertility, but only for those who were legally married and able to produce their own eggs and sperm from that relationship. Those benefits will now be extended to veterans regardless of marital status if they have service-connected fertility problems, VA said.

The department said the policy would take effect in coming weeks. VA Secretary Denis McDonough added in a <a href="https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-expands-in-vitro-fertilization-for-veterans/" target=_blank>statement</a> that the department was working to implement it as soon as possible.

“Raising a family is a wonderful thing, and I’m proud that VA will soon help more Veterans have that opportunity,” McDonough said.

The Defense Department on Monday announced <a href="https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/3702880/dod-amends-assisted-reproductive-services-policy-for-severely-ill-and-injured-a/" target=_blank>similar changes</a> to its IVF-eligibility policy for active-duty service members. The revised policy covers the cost of assisted reproductive technology for troops and their spouses, partners or surrogates. It also allows service members to use donor eggs and sperm.

In a statement Monday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who has long pushed for legislation expanding IVF coverage for veterans and service members, commended VA’s policy changes.

“VA’s announcement is an important step forward that will help more veterans start and grow their families,” said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. 

She added, “Servicemembers and veterans have sacrificed so much for our country — but they should never have to sacrifice their ability to start a family.”

VA won’t pay for IVF for same-sex or unmarried couples, lawsuits allege

The change follows <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/04/lgbtq-veterans-ivf-coverage-lawsuits/" target=_blank>two lawsuits</a> filed against VA last year, which say the department’s IVF policies discriminated against LGBTQ+ veterans.

In August, Ashley Sheffield, a veteran who medically retired after nearly 20 years in the Air Force, sued VA after the department declined to pay for her IVF treatment.

During her service, Sheffield was exposed to carcinogens and other substances that can affect the reproductive system, according to the lawsuit. After her 2021 medical retirement, VA gave her a 100 percent disability rating and an additional monthly compensation for “loss of a creative or reproductive organ,” the lawsuit states.

Still, VA did not cover IVF costs for Sheffield, and she and her wife paid thousands for the treatment themselves, court records state.

Sheffield’s lawsuit alleged that IVF policy was discriminatory, saying an appropriations statute for VA medical care referenced the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Supreme Court struck down <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court/2013/06/26/f0039814-d9ab-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html" target=_blank>in 2013</a>, making same-sex marriage legal. Her lawsuit requested compensatory damages, including medical expenses, and a court order requiring VA to provide equal access to IVF regardless of sexual orientation.

The same day Sheffield filed her lawsuit, the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women filed a similar complaint against VA and the Defense Department.

In response to that lawsuit, VA and the Defense Department said in a December court filing that they would revise their IVF policies.

Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney representing Sheffield, told The Washington Post that his client’s case is on hold, but he called Monday’s announcement an “indication that all types of families need, want and deserve access to IVF treatment.”

“When they see that a policy is wrong, they should fix it, and it’s a great thing that they did that today,” Romer-Friedman said. “But we want to make sure everyone is made whole for what’s happened in the past.”

<i>Casey Parks contributed to this report.</i>

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA in journalism, BA in biology

Praveena Somasundaram is a reporter on The Washington Post's General Assignment desk. She started at The Post as an intern in 2022 and has previously reported at the Dallas Morning News and the Charlotte Observer.

Praveena Somasundaram

washpost

VA to expand IVF to injured single veterans and same-sex couples

the-washington-post

Department of Veterans Affairs

Contributor

Foreign Policy

Intelligence

Justice

Military

National Security

prism://prism.query/site,/national-security/military&limit=20

prism://prism.query/site,/national-security&limit=20

Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.

The Washington Post's coverage of national security issues, including the military, intelligence, justice, and foreign policy.