A controversial bill, SB 729, has surfaced in the Californian legislature, instigating a fervent discourse around healthcare insurance. The bill is demanding insurance companies bear the full burden of surrogacy costs for same-sex couples longing for parenthood.
Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-Burbank) introduced this piece of legislation, aiming to drastically expand the meaning of “infertility” to encompass situations where individuals or couples cannot conceive without the aid of medical science.
“A person’s inability to reproduce either as an individual or with their partner without medical intervention.” It adds that “coverage for the treatment of infertility and fertility services shall be provided without discrimination on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, domestic partner status, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.”
Translated, this necessitates insurance providers to encompass the expenses of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy, extending these services to gay couples as well, aiming to cover the cost of surrogacy expenses for gay couples.
Many in the conservative sphere are also expressing their opposition. While there is a conservative argument for the bill suggesting it may inject some life into the flagging culture of raising children in the face of persistently declining birth rates in the U.S., a considerable number of traditionalists argue that we should focus on bolstering traditional pathways to parenthood.
There are multitudes unable to even contemplate parenthood because they can scarcely meet their own living expenses, let alone the expenses of a child. Bolstering our economy and reducing the country’s abortion rates would be a far more effective strategy for supporting families and parenthood. These critics argue that a less intrusive approach to fertility would involve prioritizing economic prosperity and reproductive responsibility over the artificial insemination of surrogates by same-sex couples.
