Four women filed suit in New Jersey claiming that they were discriminatorily denied coverage for fertility treatment based their sexual orientation. The law in New Jersey requires that a woman prove that she is medically unable to have children, and that she engage in unprotected sexual intercourse with a man for a period of one to two years, depending on her age, prior to receiving insurance coverage for the treatment.
According to the civil suit, the Krupas have been trying to conceive a child since 2013. Fertility doctors found several benign cysts on Erin Krupas’ uterus, and found that she suffered from endometriosis, making her infertile, the suit says.
State law requires large insurance providers to cover costly fertility treatments for patients medically unable to have children. The couples take issue with how the law defines infertility, which includes the inability to become pregnant after one or two years of unprotected sex, depending on the woman’s age. Insurance companies have been able to deny coverage to gay patients who, although they have been medically diagnosed infertile, do not fit the definition, the suit says.
“Despite having a medical diagnosis of infertility, because, as a lesbian in a committed relationship, Erin could not show that she had unprotected sexual intercourse with a man for the requisite period, the Krupas were not protected by the mandate,” the suit reads.
The full article can be found here.
New Jersey may soon be joining Maryland and California, the only two states to expressly require insurance companies to cover infertility treatments for same-sex couples.
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