How Fertility Friendly Is Your State?

Map and rankings created by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association

Could the state you live in have anything to do with your fertility? It could have something to do with your access to fertility specialists and your likelihood of reaching your planned family size. A recent report put out by RESOLVE ranks each state in the US by “fertility friendliness” or the ease that people living in a certain state can get treatment for fertility issues and pay for it.

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association comes out with infertility rankings of each state once per year. States are ranked on how prevalent infertility is, how many infertility specialists are available, whether companies are required to offer infertility insurance coverage by law, and how many infertility support groups are in the state. States are not ranked by the quality of fertility care, but how available the treatment is (with states with a higher number of specialists getting a higher grade) and the likelihood of insurance covering treatment.

California is rated better than average for the 50 states. RESOLVE gives California and 15 other states a grade of B or better. Like many of the five states that received an A grade, California has a state wide law requiring health insurance coverage for fertility treatments, but California drops down to a B because there are certain restrictions on insurance coverage (there is no requirement for insurances to cover the cost of IVF, for instance). The remaining 35 states received a grade of C or lower. States with a failing grade included Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wyoming, and Alaska.

For more information or to find out how your state stacks up for fertility treatment in past years, visit the RESOLVE website and check out this year’s fertility scorecard.