Donald Trump has been named president-elect. The future of our rights, our bodily autonomy, our freedom feels uncertain.
The National Women’s Law Center will be vigilantly defending against attacks on our rights and for opportunities to expand them.
Update
On October 8, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an order preliminarily approving the parties’ joint motion for settlement. A fairness hearing will be conducted on October 10, 2025.
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In November 2021, we amended our complaint to add three additional plaintiffs—all of whom, like Emma, were excluded from equal coverage for fertility treatments under Aetna’s discriminatory policy.
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Our Lawsuit
In September 2021, NWLC filed a class action lawsuit, along with co-counsel Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, challenging Aetna’s discriminatory practices against LGBTQ+ policy-holders seeking fertility treatments.
The suit alleges that Aetna’s policy for coverage of IVF and IUI fertility treatments unfairly discriminates against LGBTQ+ couples by requiring them to pay out of pocket for 12 cycles of IUI before Aetna will provide them with coverage, whereas Aetna’s policy provides immediate coverage, without any out-of-pocket cost, to heterosexual couples who have not gotten pregnant after having unprotected sex for 12 months.
Emma Goidel, the plaintiff in the suit, and her spouse sued under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in health care, and other state nondiscrimination laws. They seek to end this discriminatory policy for themselves and all others similarly situated, and to recoup the significant out-of-pocket costs they have incurred while undergoing IVF and IUI fertility treatments.