(U.S Senate) - The VA has announced it will now cover the cost of fertility services, thanks to efforts by U.S. Senator Jon Tester that directed the VA to provide reproductive benefits to Montana veterans.

Beginning this month, veterans and their spouses can now access fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, if their infertility is a direct result of a service-connected disability.

‎‎"We owe a great deal to the veterans who put their lives on the line for this country," said Tester, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. "It is past time that Montanans who have sacrificed on our behalf are finally able to build their own families. This announcement is a step in the right direction to ensure that all veterans and their loved ones are able to have a family."

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though thousands of service members suffered injuries that left them unable to conceive naturally, the VA was unable to cover the costs of certain fertility services because of a ban Congress passed in 1992. Last year, the Senate passed Tester's Military Construction -VA Appropriations bill which requires the VA to provide assisted reproductive technology.

This effort has the support of The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project, RESOLVE, American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS, and Service Women's Action Network.