COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal program to help injured veterans and their spouses conceive children through in vitro fertilization is being hobbled by anti-abortion forces that oppose how the process can lead to embryos being destroyed.

Since 2012, congressional Democrats have repeatedly championed legislation permanently extending IVF benefits to veterans whose service-connected injuries leave them unable to conceive children otherwise. Those bills have fizzled in favor of a temporary program that must be reauthorized every year, complicating eligible veterans' efforts to start families.

The benefit covers only straight, married couples who are able to produce their own sperm and eggs. The Department of Veterans Affairs says 567 eligible military families have received the IVF benefit that was first authorized in 2016.

Injured veterans' families contend using IVF to start a family is "pro-life."