California Introduces New Bill That Would Provide Gay Couples A Surrogate To Achieve "Fertility Equality"
This bill would even require insurance companies to cover the costs of IVF and surrogacy.
Surrogacy has become a hot topic in the news as of late, particularly because there are more celebrity couples who are sharing their candid experiences about the process. Khloe Kardashian, a prominent figure in the renowned Kardashian family, recently gave a deeply personal glimpse into the challenges of surrogacy. Sharing her struggle on the popular reality TV show The Kardashians, Khloe revealed her ongoing journey to forge a bond with her son Tatum, who was born via surrogate. Expressing a stark contrast to her bond with her daughter True, whom she birthed herself, Khloe divulged, "The connection... took days with True. With [Tatum], it's taking months, and we still don't have a complete bond."
Former NSYNC member Lance Bass also admitted that he and his husband Michael Turchin had a difficult time becoming fathers to their twins, Violet Betty and Alexander James, born via surrogacy. Bass revealed that he struggled to establish an initial connection with them, as the infants displayed little affection or desire for physical contact, especially compared to their interaction with Bass' mother. It's becoming more common to see gay couples go down the route of surrogacy to become parents, such as Pete and Chasten Buttigieg. The state of California now wants to make it easier for gay couples to get access to in-vitro fertilization as well as surrogacy.
California Introduces New Bill That Would Provide Gay Couples a Surrogate
In a landmark move, California is poised to redefine the concept of infertility. Bill SB 729 seeks to change the traditional understanding of infertility from a medical condition to a status, defined as "a person’s inability to reproduce either as an individual or with their partner without medical intervention." With this new definition, gay men, who naturally cannot reproduce without assistance, would be categorized as infertile.
Passed by the Senate last month, the bill aims to mandate insurance companies provide coverage for IVF procedures. As reported by the Post Millennial, the broadened definition of infertility would also necessitate coverage of surrogacy costs for gay men. Co-author Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D) articulated the impact of this bill, stating it "will ensure that queer couples no longer have to pay more out of pocket to start families than non-queer families." Menjivar emphasized the bill's critical role in not only securing equality for the LGBTQ+ community but also advancing comprehensive health care for all Californians.
Proponents of SB 729 claim the bill will "remove financial barriers" for gay men aiming to have a biological child via surrogacy. Some activists claim that gay couples go through emotional struggles and that they deserve a solution to their so-called infertility.
Despite the progressive outlook, the bill has met with opposition from business and insurance groups in California. The critics, as reported by the Free Beacon, suggest that SB 729 would potentially raise insurance premiums by over $330 million annually. Other critics highlight the fact that this bill doesn't address children's needs or the safety that should be considered in cases of surrogacy and IVF. Essentially, the women who would donate eggs and carry babies for these gay couples would be reduced to mere vessels that are demanded to carry children for others. Traditionalist critics like Greg Burt, director of the California Family Council, see the bill as an attack on the traditional family structure.
"This bill seeks to further erode the father, mother, and child nuclear family and make everyone in society pay for it to further a make-believe cause named 'fertility equality,'" Burt said. "The reason healthy singles and same-sex couples can't reproduce has nothing to do with infertility; it has to do with biology."
As of 2021, it's estimated that 5,000 children were born via surrogate in the U.S. The global surrogacy industry reached an estimated $14 billion in 2022 and is projected to rise to $129 billion within the next decade. The ongoing debate highlights the broader conversation about the evolving definition of family and the supposed rights of individuals to pursue parenthood even if they are not biologically capable of doing so.
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