Swedish lesbian couple sues over fertility treatment rules
The ombudsman against discrimination due to sexual orientation (HomO) is taking the case of a lesbian couple from northern Sweden who claim they don’t have equal access to artificial insemination procedures.
The two women are seeking 50,000 kronor ($7,700) in compensation from the Västerbotten County Council for treating them differently than childless heterosexual couples when it comes to facilitating artificial insemination.
In its filing with the district court, HomO states that the council’s demands for offering county-financed fertility treatment to couples without children are unfair to the lesbian pair.
“Before they inseminate a childless couple they investigate whether the involuntarily childlessness is a result of an illness or lack in one of the organs. A condition for a couple receiving county-financed treatment is the diagnosis of a medical problem,” writes HomO.
“But for a lesbian couple the cause of their childlessness is often that they lack a man. Such childlessness is naturally no less involuntary than that which is caused by a disease,” said George Svéd from HomO to the Västerbottens Folkblad newspaper.
To be forced to pay for a medical investigation when the answer is obviously pre-determined amounts to unfair treatment, according to HomO.
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The two women are seeking 50,000 kronor ($7,700) in compensation from the Västerbotten County Council for treating them differently than childless heterosexual couples when it comes to facilitating artificial insemination.
In its filing with the district court, HomO states that the council’s demands for offering county-financed fertility treatment to couples without children are unfair to the lesbian pair.
“Before they inseminate a childless couple they investigate whether the involuntarily childlessness is a result of an illness or lack in one of the organs. A condition for a couple receiving county-financed treatment is the diagnosis of a medical problem,” writes HomO.
“But for a lesbian couple the cause of their childlessness is often that they lack a man. Such childlessness is naturally no less involuntary than that which is caused by a disease,” said George Svéd from HomO to the Västerbottens Folkblad newspaper.
To be forced to pay for a medical investigation when the answer is obviously pre-determined amounts to unfair treatment, according to HomO.
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