SACRAMENTO-
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill that would require major health insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization, a victory for reproductive health advocates amid national concerns about the future of access to fertility treatments. fertility.
The bill also expands medical benefits for LGBTQ+ families who want to have children, changing the definition of infertility for insurance purposes to include “the inability of a person to reproduce, either as an individual or as a couple, without medical intervention.” .
“California is a proud state of reproductive freedom, and that includes greater access to fertility services that help those who want to start a family,” Newsom said in a statement released Sunday. “As Republicans across the country continue to trample on rights and block access to IVF, while calling themselves the ‘party of families,’ we are proud to empower every Californian in their decisions about the family they want to help.” “.
California’s new law comes as conservative groups increasingly oppose the use of embryos for IVF (and when life actually begins) over moral and religious concerns.
While Trump recently promised to cover the cost of IVF nationwide if elected in November, reproductive rights activists quickly questioned the announcement as an attempt to curry favor in the upcoming election, citing his record-breaking record.
IVF, a common procedure for those facing infertility, involves collecting eggs from the ovaries, fertilizing them with sperm in a laboratory, and implanting them in the uterus.
During the IVF process, some embryos may not survive and are discarded if they are not needed. That led groups like the California Family Council, a conservative Christian organization, to oppose SB 729, which was signed into law Sunday, because “human life begins at conception.”
Currently, California does not require insurance companies to cover IVF. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the procedure costs an average of $24,000 out-of-pocket in California and can take several cycles before it is successful.
Newsom, a longtime advocate for reproductive rights, signed the bill despite opposition from health insurance companies, the California Chamber of Commerce and his own Department of Finance over concerns about costs as the state faces a deficit. multi-million dollar budget. A recent financial analysis of the bill projected that it would cost the state at least $20 million in bonuses to state employees in the first two years alone.
Reproductive rights advocates have warned that IVF will continue to grow after the Supreme Court ended a federal guarantee of abortion access in 2022, leaving it instead in the hands of states, noting that Trump helped appoint to a conservative majority of the judges who made this decision. loan.
Trump has since said he would not ban abortion if elected and supports IVF, but the disbelief comes after an Alabama court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered “children” and that their destruction remains a death by death. negligence. more than ten countries Laws were introduced to protect the “pregnant person.”
The bill was amended throughout the legislative process to address some cost concerns, and religious employers are exempt from the bill.
