We all know someone walking through the heartbreak of infertility — a sister, a neighbor, a friend, a coworker. Maybe you and your spouse.
Infertility isn’t rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 5 married women experience it, and the number keeps climbing. The heartbreak isn’t really about the birth rate. It’s in the empty cradles, the unanswered questions, and the lack of care for what actually causes infertility: endometriosis, hormonal disorders, and male-factor infertility, to name a few.
Right now, that gap is exactly what’s on the table in Washington. Federal regulators are finalizing a rule that would let employers offer a fully optional fertility benefit, much like a dental or vision plan, and they have opened it for public comment.
It is a rare chance to tell the government directly that real fertility care should treat the whole person. Without input from everyday Americans, the safe bet for regulators is to default to one-size-fits-all procedures instead of restorative care, the very approach that “Make America Healthy Again” advocates and social conservatives fight to protect.
So what does whole-person care look like? Restorative reproductive medicine, or RRM, is a science-based approach that treats the root causes of infertility to restore the body’s natural function and improve overall health. It starts from a simple premise: Infertility usually isn’t a standalone disease like cancer or heart disease, but a symptom of an underlying problem in the man’s body, the woman’s body, or both. To treat it, you have to treat the cause.
That focus is what sets RRM apart from IVF, or in vitro fertilization, which works around the body to create embryos in a lab. Because it addresses those underlying conditions, RRM also helps women living with endometriosis, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), painful cycles, and hormonal imbalances, and it improves long-term metabolic health for men and women alike, whether they hope to conceive now or are simply teenagers searching for real answers. Because it works with the body instead of around it, RRM can also lower health risks for both mother and baby. This is care that helps people live healthier lives, not just grow their families.
President Trump hinted at this in a recent Oval Office briefing: “This will hopefully reduce the number of couples who ultimately need to resort to IVF because challenges can be identified and addressed very early in the process.”
Yet the conditions driving infertility remain badly neglected. Endometriosis alone affects as many as 1 in 10 women and shows up in up to half of all infertility cases, and it is still under-studied, under-funded, and poorly understood.
Americans are already asking for better answers. In a March 2026 Carrot survey, 89 percent of women said they would rather start with a less-invasive treatment before turning to anything more aggressive, and 78 percent said better information would make them “more likely to pursue non-IVF options first.” Separate polling found that close to 80 percent of Americans want personalized care aimed at the root causes of infertility. The appetite is obvious. Access is what has been missing.
Here is the part most people miss: You can do something about it today. When a federal agency changes a rule, it must open a public comment period and invite citizens to weigh in. And this is no airline complaint line. By law, the agency has to read and respond to what comes in.
Not sure what to say? Don’t worry. Your comment doesn’t need to be long or technical, just a few honest sentences in plain language. By adding your voice, you can urge regulators to make this benefit work for the families who want it by:
- Treating infertility as a symptom of underlying conditions, not just a disease with a one-size-fits-all solution
- Putting RRM (including Natural Procreative Technology, FEMM, and NeoFertility) and root-cause diagnostics clearly on the list of plans employers can offer
- Encouraging diagnosis and restorative care first, before more invasive options
- Protecting conscience rights for faith-based employers and workers, plus commonsense, pro-life safeguards for families and unborn children
Heritage Action’s model makes it easy. Visit their page for a sample comment and step-by-step directions, or comment directly at Regulations.gov.
The deadline is July 13, so don’t wait. Moments like this are rare, when ordinary citizens can shape national health policy in just a few minutes. Think of your sister, your neighbor, your coworker, the woman who was told her pain was normal, the couple stretched thin and pushed straight toward IVF. This is where their story can start to change. Tell the regulators what families need: care that treats the real causes of infertility, not just the symptoms.
