Tag Archives: LGBT Family Rights

Lesbian Couple Challenges Insurance Bar To Fertility Treatment

A married lesbian couple, Erin and Marianne Krupa, decided to try for a baby a few years ago but discovered Erin, who was to carry the baby, had fertility problems.

Her doctor told her that she had benign cysts on her uterus and endometriosis which had left her infertile.

Her doctor assured her that her health insurance would pay for her fertility treatment, but the company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield refused.

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The company told the couple that one of their insurance mandate of 2001 stated that women under the age of 35, no matter what their sexual orientation, had to demonstrate infertility by having two years of unprotected sexual intercourse.

The Krupa’s and another unnamed couple are now suing the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance because they claim the mandate discriminates against lesbian women forcing infertile gay women to pay for their own procedures in order to get pregnant.

Grace Cretcher, the lawyer acting on behalf of the women, states that the mandate violates the constitutional rights of non-heterosexual women who are obviously unable to prove their infertility simply by having unprotected sexual intercourse.

15 states now legally require insurance companies to cover fertility treatment and California and Maryland have updated their mandates to require fertility coverage regardless of sexual orientation.

Dr William Zieglar, a medical director of the reproduction science centre in New Jersey, said that the mandate that require proof of infertility has not been thought out well enough as gay women are unable to have a baby in the same way a heterosexual couple can because they do not have the same biological equipment.

Discrimination is still happening in many areas and the only way these discriminations can be overcome is to make people aware of them. This mandate is over 15 years old and is well overdue an update that should include gay women having the right to medical treatment if they are infertile.

Giving this right to a heterosexual woman and not a gay woman is an act of discrimination that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Lesbian Couple in Taiwan Battle for Recognition of Their Two Children

Chou Shu-chi and Wang Shu-yi – a lesbian couple in Taiwan are petitioning the local courts to rectify laws which currently bar one of the women from claiming two of their children as her own.

The couple, who have known each other since they were university students and have been together for 15 years, decided four years ago to start a family in Canada. After artificially insemination, Chou gave birth to two children, a girl and a boy.

Chou Shu-chi and Wang Shu-yi

Upon their return to Taiwan, the couple learned that Wang is legally barred from custody of the children she raised and has considered her own since their conception. Taiwan laws forbid and do not recognize marriage between same-sex couples. Therefore the children are technically under the custody of only their living biological mother. Also the laws do not prevent gay singles from adopting children. The couple hope to rectify this, by submitting their case to the Shilin District Court.

The two children are now three years old and are recognized by the couple’s parents, family members and friends as their children, but only Chou is registered as their legal parent in accordance with Taiwan laws.

Wang has expressed her concerns that in the event that something happened to Chou, her children will be taken away, nor would they be able to inherit her assets when she passes away.

Wang hopes to certify her parenthood by applying through court in what would be a landmark case for Taiwan’s custody laws.

A spokesperson for the Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy said that Wang has already built up strong family ties with the children, but will have to go the route of adoption if she wants to earn legal custody.