Mike Johnson strips military IVF coverage from defense bill - report

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 8 Dec 2025 12.12 EST
Last modified on Mon 8 Dec 2025 13.10 EST


A huge defense policy bill, revealed by US lawmakers on Sunday, does not include a provision that would have provided broad healthcare coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for active-duty members of the military, despite Donald Trump’s pledge to strengthen access to the procedure. Both the House and Senate previously approved the provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as an amendment earlier this year.

But Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House and a diehard anti-abortion Republican, worked behind the scenes to strip the provision from the new version of the NDAA, MS NOW reported last week. Although IVF is extremely popular with the American public, abortion foes often oppose it on the grounds that it creates unused or discarded embryos, which they see as people.

Advocates for IVF, including Danielle Melfi, the CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, have spoken out about the exclusion. “Failing to include IVF coverage in the NDAA is a dishonor to our servicemembers who make extraordinary sacrifices for our freedoms,” she said in a statement.

“There was bipartisan support for this coverage, and its exclusion fails to advance President Trump’s call to expand IVF access. Military families have waited far too long to access the full range of medical care needed to build their families.” Johnson did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the exclusion of the IVF provision. However, in a Sunday statement, Johnson praised the latest version of the NDAA extensively.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/military-ivf-coverage-defense-bill-mike-johnson

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Of course he stripped it out. The RW religious loons said it from day one - they don't believe in IVF.

[wcmagumba]

1. I don't see how he can unilaterally alter a bill like that...but if not called out by the majority I guess he can...

Who died and left widdle Mikey in charge...thuglicans, uggh!

[BumRushDaShow]

2. He and Thune have that "power"

But in the case of the Senate, they still need 60 votes to pass such a bill meaning having 7 (D)s/(I)s (who caucus with (D)s), go along with that.

[slightlv]

4. Mikey is ruled by the theocrats of this country...

specifically the NAR (National Apostolic Reformation... formerly known as the Dominionists). Hang on to your hat... if we don't put down this administration SOON, we will be living under their charismatic, evangelical laws. Don't like Sharia Law? Well, hold on for the Christian version! More stoning and less yelling...

[Bohunk68]

8. Don't forget the Opus Dei SCOTUS.

They are the same as the Dominionists and they have 5 members of SCOTUS behind them.

[slightlv]

11. They've all made strange bedfellows for now...

when they get things in place, THEN watch the wars start! These xtremists don't agree with each other's theocracy, and they all think the others are heretics.

[jmowreader]

3. I would strip it too, but for a different reason

During the first Trump administration the military construction and building maintenance budget was diverted to Trump's wall. That funding was never replaced. Now the barracks and family housing are full of black mold and a lot of chow halls have changed from cooking fresh food for the troops to issuing the kind of prepackaged crap you find in gas stations.

This is NOT the time to be spending money on expensive elective medical procedures for soldiers' civilian wives!

[Prairie Gates]

6. Our defense budget doth approach $1 trillion

[HappyLarge]

7. Speaking as a veteran who needed IVF, I'd remind folks some of the soldiers who need IVF have civilian husbands.

What this says is that soldier who has had injury to the reproductive organs (it happens!) doesn’t deserve to have assisted reproductive services because Mike Johnson is a religious nut job? That is fucked up.

[lostnfound]

10. "For soldiers' wives"???

Having children is not just a wife’s desire. And not all soldiers are men.

A soldier’s deployment or military career can contribute to the need for IVF. Cancer treatment, chemical exposure, physical injury and meds for PTSD are 3 reasons for much lower fertility rates in soldiers or for a reason to freeze eggs.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/military-service-members-veterans-fight-for-fertility-treatments-ivf-rcna151125

Duckworth, who used IVF to conceive both of her children, said: “I went through almost 10 years of fertility struggle. And in that process, I learned that my infertility is likely linked to my military service. The people who defend us and protect the Constitution deserve to be able to start their families, as well, and have their American dream. And I would hate to be the one to tell a soldier, ‘Sorry, thank you for your service, but you don’t get to be a dad.’”

The corporate jobs I had IVF coverage. I never needed it, but I’m glad it was there for others.

[SunSeeker]

5. So much for Trump being "the IVF president."

[Bengus81]

9. Hell...in Oct 2024 he said he was the FATHER of IVF and so was the Republican party

Got em elected,LIES mean nothing.

[SunSeeker]

12. Fools like Ryleigh Cooper believed him, for God knows what reason

Last edited Tue Dec 9, 2025, 07:34 PM - Edit history (1)

She said she voted for him because of his IVF promise. She desperately wanted a baby. Instead of giving her the free IVF he promised, he fired her and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-worker-voted-trump-fired-120300259.html