WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee voted against a provision to expand health care coverage for military families' fertility treatments in the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced an amendment to add the fertility coverage provision to the bill, but the committee defeated it.

Surveys indicate that military personnel experience infertility at higher rates than comparable civilian populations. Military families generally do not have equivalent health care coverage for fertility treatments unless infertility is directly linked to military service. In contrast, members of Congress and federal employees have had health care coverage for designated fertility treatments since 2025.

The underlying text of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, as considered by the committee, did not include a fertility provision. Duckworth said, "After everything our troops sacrifice for our nation, they should never have to sacrifice their dreams of building a family."

The committee previously included provisions authorizing coverage for in vitro fertilization for active-duty service members and their dependents under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select in the fiscal years 2025 and 2026 National Defense Authorization Acts. These provisions had bipartisan support in both House and Senate committees and on their respective floors. However, Speaker Mike Johnson removed these fertility provisions from the final measures before the conference reports were finalized. Duckworth stated, "Every single Republican on the committee betrayed our heroes and voted against the very same language they supported last year."

Duckworth's office did not publicly release the vote count for the defeated amendment. The vote breakdown is expected to be made public when the accompanying committee report is released. The committee approved the draft defense authorization bill by an 18-9 vote on Wednesday.