The New York City Council is urging Mayor Eric Adams to take action and extend in vitro fertilization (IVF) coverage to gay male employees in the wake of a lawsuit.
The council's LGBTQIA+ Caucus sent a letter to Adams last week that said gay men are denied benefits extended to straight couples and single women. The lawmakers argue that an "exclusionary and outdated" statutory definition of "infertility" denies gay men access to IVF.
"As members of the City Council, we strongly believe that the family building benefits should be offered to all employees, and it cannot be conditioned on a definition of heteronormative infertility," the caucus wrote in a letter first reported by Politico. "Although the City’s discriminatory policy predates this Administration, the current Administration can solve this problem."
The issue, according to the caucus, is that the city health plan only covers cycles of IVF for employees who can show documentation of infertility, defined as "the inability to conceive a child through male-female unprotected sexual intercourse."
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Since men cannot get pregnant, a 2020 state law that requires insurance plans to cover three cycles of IVF has not provided IVF coverage to gay male couples. The caucus demands that Adams act immediately to remedy the inequity by updating the city's health care plans and reimbursing all gay men who have been denied IVF benefits in the past.
The letter comes after a gay male employee sued the city last month alleging discrimination after he was denied IVF coverage. Former assistant district attorney Corey Briskin and his husband filed the suit, saying they had to put off plans for IVF due to the lack of financial support.
The lawsuit claims that withholding IVF coverage violates the city's guarantees against discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as the equal rights and due process protections in the U.S. Constitution.
The LGBTQIA+ Caucus letter cites Briskin's case and also urges Adams to support proposed legislation that would require the city to cover assisted reproduction services and adoption for municipal employees without the need for an infertility diagnosis, Politico reported.
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"We’re hoping that the City Council’s great leadership on this issue will rub off on Mayor Adams," Briskin's lawyer, Peter Romer-Friedman, told the outlet.
A spokesperson for the mayor's office told Politico the city's health plan covers IVF treatments for municipal employees "regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation," although state rules and guidance determine eligibility. The city does not cover costs associated with egg or sperm donation or surrogacy, the spokesperson said.
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IVF issues have been thrust into the spotlight in recent months thanks to questions about how the practice interacts with some abortion restrictions.
An Alabama Supreme Court ruling caused three state fertility clinics to stop offering IVF services. The Alabama ruling prompted a wave of national Republicans to come out in support of IVF, while some conservatives said it is an issue best left to individual states.
Democrats, however, have used the ruling as a political cudgel against the right, claiming that Republicans would crack down on IVF access and reproductive health measures nationwide – an attack that those on the right have denied.
Just one cycle of IVF treatment could cost between $15,000 and $30,000, depending on the clinic and a person’s medical history. Briskin and other gay male employees would only be able to access IVF through surrogacy.
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
