EBSA-2026-0232-0001, Flourish Adoption Ministries, INC.

**Re: Public Comment on Proposed Rule Regarding Excepted Fertility Benefits** I support the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury's proposed rule establishing excepted fertility benefits for root-cause care, and I urge the Departments to ensure that the final rule reflects true root-cause fertility care that treats infertility while honoring every family. On behalf of our organization, thank you for your continued commitment to supporting families and for the recent Embryo Adoption Awareness and Services Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Flourish is a South Carolina nonprofit adoption agency and home to the state's first embryo adoption program. Since launching this program, we have facilitated over 80 embryo adoptions and currently have seven in progress. As one of the few licensed adoption agencies in the nation facilitating embryo adoption, we have a unique perspective on both the hope this pathway offers families and the barriers that continue to prevent many from pursuing it. Based on our experience, we respectfully urge the Departments to explicitly recognize **embryo adoption as an eligible use of excepted fertility benefits.** While embryo adoption is not a medical treatment for infertility, it is a life-affirming, child-centered family-building option that provides existing embryos with the opportunity for life while helping families grow. We also encourage the Departments to clarify that excepted fertility benefits may be used to cover embryo adoption-related expenses, including home studies, agency and matching fees, counseling, legal services, and frozen embryo transfer procedures. These costs present significant barriers for many families who are otherwise ready to pursue embryo adoption. Current conversations surrounding fertility benefits understandably focus on treating infertility. However, this rule also presents an opportunity to recognize that **more than one million cryopreserved embryos are estimated to be in storage in the United States.** Public policy should encourage ethical pathways that provide these embryos the opportunity to be placed into loving families. We also encourage continued support for nonprofit agencies that facilitate embryo adoption, consideration of extending the federal adoption tax credit to eligible embryo adoption expenses, and greater transparency and accountability within the IVF industry regarding embryo creation, long-term storage, and disposition practices. At Flourish, every decision we make is guided by one question: **What is in the best interest of the child?** We believe that same principle should remain at the center of fertility policy. Embryo adoption offers a compassionate, ethical, and child-centered option that deserves meaningful federal recognition and support. The Administration has taken an important first step through the recent NOFO. We respectfully ask you to build on that momentum by ensuring the final rule explicitly recognizes embryo adoption as an eligible use of excepted fertility benefits and removes unnecessary barriers for families seeking this path. Flourish Adoption Ministries would welcome the opportunity to serve as a resource as the Departments continue this important work. Thank you for your consideration.