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Gay couples turn to crowdfunding to raise money for fertility costs
Published by NBC News. Read the full article.
Kyle and Jack Maurelli started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of surrogacy after being denied insurance coverage.
The high cost of surrogacy, an increasingly popular option for couples looking to expand their families biologically, has led some prospective same-sex parents to turn to crowdfunding.
Kyle and Jack Maurelli, a gay couple living in New York state, began a GoFundMe campaign in July after their insurance company told them they didn’t qualify for the infertility coverage necessary to cover the cost of an embryo transplant. Having a baby through surrogacy can cost up to $250,000, according to Family Equality, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ families.
“We successfully created embryos, however, our path to parenthood has been fraught with financial challenges due to the exorbitant expenses associated with fertility treatments like surrogacy and in vitro fertilization (IVF),” the Maurellis, who married in 2019, wrote on their GoFundMe page. “Despite both of us working tirelessly, the overwhelming burden of these costs totaling approximately 180K and climbing is proving to be an insurmountable obstacle.”
