Final Push to Secure Funding for Wounded Veterans Wanting to Start Families

Wounded Warrior Project Lobbies for Bill that Provides Hope

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Jun 10, 2016, 08:15 ET

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new petition is calling for action to help some wounded veterans and their spouses who wish start their own families. Over the past fifteen years, as many as two thousand U.S. servicemen and women have suffered injuries so severe they are unable to have children. These injuries range from an improvised explosive device (IED) blast to head trauma that impacts the veteran.

Senator Patty Murray (D - Washington) met with families last month before the Senate approved a bill including IVF funding. Now Congress will merge two bills, and consider keeping IVF funding for wounded veterans.

These men and women served their country and protected our families. Now Congress has a chance to make things right. Senators and representatives will meet in the next two weeks to merge two bills for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 (H.R. 2577). The Senate version of the bill includes funding for reproductive services for veterans whose injuries affect their ability to start a family.

Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) is working with thirteen partners including other veteran service organizations to keep this amendment as the bill is merged.

This week, WWP launched an online petition to help show support for the bill. The petition calls attention to wounded veterans Matt Keil and Kevin Jaye. Both were severely wounded while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively.

Matt and his wife Tracy paid for in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the help of family, friends, and their community. However, they were forced to use their own credit cards to finance the costly procedure.

Estimated costs for IVF are around $12,500 per round of treatment. IVF is not as easy treatment, and can often take multiple attempts to be successful. That doesn't even take into account the emotional strain the treatment can cause.

Next week, WWP will bring that petition, along with several families of wounded veterans to Capitol Hill to show Congress the importance of this bill. The families will meet with select members of Congress to share their stories and explain how the funding will help them make their family whole.

WWP takes advocating for injured veterans seriously. Two bills WWP wrote and lobbied for have already led to more than $2.5 billion in economic impact for wounded veterans, their families, and caregivers. Read about WWP's Policy and Government Affairs by visiting https://goo.gl/2fyl88.

About Wounded Warrior Project
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit https://goo.gl/QYbvpg.

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SOURCE Wounded Warrior Project