Court decision
Lesbian couples do not receive any support with fertility treatment
Fertility treatments in lesbian partnerships should not be financially supported by the health insurances in the future either.
© Boris Roessler / DPA
Many couples want offspring, but sometimes there are difficulties with fertility – then the fertility treatment is financially supported by the statutory health insurances. Not so with lesbian relationships.
Lesbian married couples are not entitled to a subsidy from the statutory health insurance for fertility treatment. The Federal Social Court (BSG) decided on Wednesday in Kassel that this was intended by the legislature and not unconstitutional. The fact that the plaintiff has hormonal fertility disorders in the dispute does not change that.
With her lawsuit, the woman demanded equal treatment with heterosexually married infertile women. They can receive half of the allowance for fertility treatment. According to the law, however, “only egg and sperm cells of the spouse may be used”. The plaintiff believes that this is discriminatory. Lesbian married couples are automatically dependent on a sperm donation. It was probably neglected to adapt the regulation.
Federal Social Court denies discrimination against lesbian couples
The BSG did not follow this. The rule is deliberate and non-discriminatory. It also excludes heterosexual couples in whom the man does not produce suitable seeds for procreation or the woman does not produce suitable eggs.
The legislature deliberately opted for subsidies only for “supporting artificial insemination”. This should benefit couples who can basically have children together, but who cannot do so because of health problems. Only through this “disease-like component” is the responsibility of the health insurance companies justified.
However, the constitutional protection of the family does not result in the legislature’s duty to enable every married couple to start a family through artificial insemination, emphasized the Kassel judges. The principle of equal treatment has not been violated either. The possibility of a same-sex marriage does not result in “the obligation to compensate for the reproductive biological limits of such a marriage with the means of the statutory health insurance”.