Jacquelyne Nichols flew helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for the Marines for eleven years before leaving active duty to join the reserves, partly to fulfill a dream of hers: starting a family.
However, after Nichols returned from her deployment in Qatar in 2018, she and her husband, who was also a Marine, struggled to conceive, setting her on a years-long fertility journey.
She remarked, “I understood that I might have to give up my life, my limbs, and my health.” The possibility that my service could cause me to lose my fertility was something I was unaware of.
The 41-year-old Nichols is receiving in vitro fertilization treatments and is eligible for financial assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs; however, she occasionally has to “fight” to get her benefits paid. Making sure I’m getting what I need is essentially a full-time job.
Nichols is a part of the growing movement to increase access to reproductive care for veterans and service members—who may have three times the rate of infertility as the general population—through the VA and the Defense Department. While there has been some progress, proponents claim that the requirement for veterans and service members to demonstrate a connection between their infertility and their service is one of the largest obstacles still standing.
In an NBC News statement, the VA stated that it is “committed to helping as many veterans as possible raise a family” and that it is “constantly working to expand access to care.”
Fertility care has long been covered by the Pentagon and the VA, but eligibility for these benefits has been restricted by regulations.
The two organizations were accused by the National Organization for Women-New York City of “restricting access to fertility treatment on a foundation of discriminatory and arbitrary markers” for veterans and service members who were trying to start families. The organization filed a federal lawsuit against the two organizations last year.
Following the lawsuit, the VA and the Pentagon increased qualifying service members’ and veterans’ access to IVF benefits for single or same-sex partnerships.
Nevertheless, IVF is still only accessible to those who can demonstrate that their infertility was brought on by their military service, such as partners of men taking medication for a sperm count-lowering post-traumatic stress disorder or women who sustained reproductive organ damage during combat.
Renée Mihail is a veteran of the Army who works for the Yale Veterans Legal Services Clinic, which is the plaintiffs’ attorney in this case. She praised the agencies for lifting their prohibitions on same-sex couples receiving treatment. However, she added, establishing a link between infertility and services is still the primary obstacle to receiving care.
The ability to conceive is hampered in many cases by exposure to hazardous substances or physical or environmental conditions, according to Mihail, despite the difficulty of conclusively establishing a connection between infertility and service.
“I worked with so many people who seemed to be having fertility issues,” the woman remarked. “It could be due to medical issues they were unaware of or didn’t know about, or it could be because they put off starting a family in order to focus on their careers.” And I had the impression that it wasn’t merely a coincidence.
Research on infertility in the armed forces is lacking. However, according to a 2018 survey, three times as many active-duty women—37 percent—as the national average reported struggling with infertility.
According to Nichols, “as an aviator, a lot of it has to do with radiation exposure,” so she is not surprised by the survey results. traveling at a great height. Not only can these things negatively affect women’s fertility, but they can also negatively affect men’s fertility. Even now, the complete scope of this issue is unknown.
It could take decades to identify a direct connection, according to Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Iraq War veteran who lost both of her legs in combat. However, she pointed out that military infertility is similar to Agent Orange in that it took the VA decades to figure out that exposure to the herbicide, which the U.S. military dropped in large quantities on Vietnamese jungles during the war, was probably connected to some cancers.
Duckworth is pressuring Congress to act quickly, having filed legislation to increase service members’ and veterans’ access to and coverage of fertility benefits, but Republicans have objected to the bill’s ambiguous cost.
Duckworth stated: “I went through almost 10 years of fertility struggle.” She used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive both of her children. During that process, I also discovered that my infertility is probably related to my time spent in the military. The right to start a family and pursue the American dream should be extended to those who stand up for us and the Constitution. Furthermore, I would hate being the one to tell a soldier, “I’m sorry, but you don’t get to be a dad. Thank you for your service.”
Meanwhile, legal action against the Pentagon and the VA is still pending on behalf of the National Organization for Women—New York City. Later this month, in federal court in New York, oral arguments will be held regarding the government’s move to dismiss it.
NBC News was informed by both departments that they would not comment on ongoing legal matters.