Political Quotes

“the Senate has just passed legislation that will bring into focus a real need for the VA to help women veterans and the spouses of male veterans access assistance for one of the most impactful and serious wounds of these wars--reproductive and urinary tract trauma. As many of my colleagues know, the nature of the current conflict we are involved in and the use of improvised explosive devices leave our servicemembers far more susceptible to very serious injuries, such as reproductive and urinary tract trauma. Army data shows that between 2003 and 2011, we had 2,000 servicemembers suffering from these kinds of injuries. Like so many of our veterans, these men and women come home and want to return to their lives, to find employment and to start a family. But today, when they go to the VA, the fertility services that are available don't meet the very complex needs of these serious injuries. In fact, veterans who have suffered from these injuries find that the VA is specifically barred from providing more advanced assisted reproductive techniques, such as in vitro fertilization. They are, in fact, told--despite the fact that they have made such an extreme sacrifice for our country--that they can't be provided with the medical services they need to start a family. One of those veterans I have come to know is SSG Matt Keil and his wife Tracy, who are here with us today.…”