Abstract

The use of fertility treatment and assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the United States and globally is increasing over time. As of April 2023, the World Health Organization estimates that approximately one in six individuals have faced infertility globally. Fertility treatment includes the use of drugs to stimulate egg production, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and, for some, the use of gestational surrogacy to aid in childbirth. Debates have abounded and continue to abound in federal legislatures, state legislatures, and society more broadly about the morality of abortion, contraception, and assisted reproduction, as well as whether governments, public insurers, and private insurers should facilitate access to these medical treatments. This chapter explains how private health insurance, like public health insurance, can be a catalyst for innovation and societal acceptance. Insurance coverage can be an indication of medically accepted procedures and products, as well as a proxy for ethical views, social views, and employer views on appropriate health care. This is particularly the case in the realm of reproduction, especially in relation to assisted reproduction and abortion.

This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2025

Publication Information

Health Law as Private Law: Pathology or Pathway? (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Comments

This chapter originally published in Health Law as Private Law: Pathology or Pathway? edited by I. Glenn Cohen, Wendy Netter Epstein, Christopher Robertson, and Carmel Shachar (Cambridge University Press, 2025).

The full book is available from Cambridge University Press at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009480468.

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