NASHVILLE, Tenn — The Tennessee Senate has deferred a bill that was looking to forever make changes for Tennessee families, specifically for those looking to start a family.
Senate Bill 425, known as the Pro-Family Building Act, has been deferred in committee until the next legislative session in 2022.
The bill would have made it to where by January 2023 insurance plans in Tennessee would cover diagnosis of infertility, fertility treatment, including medications, and fertility preservation.
Mollie Walker, co-founder of Tennessee Fertility Advocates, said the next steps they will take is to work with legislators and leadership to strengthen the bill's language and hopefully get support next year.
A local couple shared why they want to see this measure passed.
“We’ve been together since 2013 and pretty early in our dating relationship we talked about kids, how many we wanted,” said Cadey Phipps.
The plan for Phipps and husband Nathan Pierson has long been to add some little faces to the family photos and spend long days with them at the playground. The plan hasn’t happened yet.
“One in six couples experience infertility,” said Phipps. “A third of those are female factor, a third are male factor, and a third are both or unexplained. We happen to fall in the both and unexplained category. The doctors told us IVF was our one and only option.
Phipps and Pierson are the same as many Tennesseans with their insurance not covering in-vitro fertilization.
“We’re looking at paying all of this out of pocket,” said Phipps. “We just cleared out our savings to buy this house and we’re looking at this huge financial burden.”
“A company that gives a benefit like this creates great morale inside a company too,” said Pierson.