More than 1,000 couples in the German state of Hesse have sought funding for fertility treatments since 2018. This is according to the response from the Hessian Ministry of Family Affairs to a request by the Free Democratic Party faction in the state parliament in Wiesbaden.
Of the 1,462 applications filed by the end of August, 1,240 were approved. The vast majority of couples seeking fertility assistance, namely 1,202, were married. Only 38 couples were unmarried.
In total, just over 1.83 million euros has been drawn from the state’s funds. So far this year, around 171,575 euros have been spent on funding fertility treatments.
The state of Hesse, according to the ministry, also funds, in addition to the legally anchored options for artificial insemination, a proportional fourth attempt of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The state does this so that the desire to have a child can be fulfilled for as many couples as possible, the ministry said.
Funding also covers queer couples. They must be either married, in a civil partnership under the Civil Partnership Act, or in a stable domestic partnership, and undergo one of the two treatments.
