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In 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was amended to Title VII of the "1964 Civil Rights Act." This amendment outlaws discrimination in the workplace for matters related to pregnancy. This means that an employer cannot refuse to hire a woman, or fire her, due to any condition related to her pregnancy. While discrimination based on race, sex, or national origin was outlawed under the original Title VII legislation, it did not cover discrimination based on pregnancy. The PDA amendment corrected this deficiency.

Although the PDA forbids discrimination in the workplace based on pregnancy related conditions – this does not extend to insurance matters when they concern infertility treatments.

Before beginning infertility treatments, it is wise to review your medical insurance policy to see if infertility treatments are covered. In many instances it will not be covered at all, or will be covered in only a limited manner.

• A few states have mandated that infertility treatments be covered by insurance, or that a rider to cover infertility treatments be offered to those that desire it.
• The American Society For Reproductive Medicine has compiled a list of State Infertility Insurance Laws and what is covered by each state's laws.
• States which have enacted legislation dealing with infertility and medical insurance rights include: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas.

If you feel that your rights have been violated under the statutes of the PDA, you have a number of options by which to address your complaints.

If your complaint is related to your work environment, your first step should be to contact your employer's equal opportunity office and see if they can help you resolve the problem.

• If that is not sufficient, contact your local Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) office. They may recommend mediation or that you file a formal complaint.
• Be forewarned you may face a long and unproductive battle prosecuting your complaint. This is because many people, including some courts, do not acknowledge that infertility treatments are covered under the terms of the PDA. In short, most see the PDA as dealing solely with pregnancy and its aftermath – not the actual act of conception. Until such times as the wording of the PDA is amended to explicitly mention that infertility treatments are covered by the legislation, you may have a hard time proving discrimination.
• To date, women who were fired because they were undergoing infertility treatments have filed several lawsuits. The firings, for the most part, were related to the women's repeated absences from work to undergo the treatments. The rulings so far have been mixed due in part to the vague wording the PDA in infertility matters.

If you have been denied insurance coverage for infertility treatments, you may find that you have no cause of action unless you live in a state that mandates such coverage. However, if you have a plan that is covered by the Employees Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), you do not have a case. ERISA plans are covered by Federal laws. Therefore, they are not required to comply with state rules.

• If coverage is denied or if the insurance company will not honor a claim, your first step is to contact the company and discuss the matter.
• If you are covered by a policy offered by your employer, they might have a grievance committee set up that will help you negotiate complaints.
• If your claim is still denied, you can appeal. This often requires refilling your claim and including additional evidence of why you feel that the treatment was covered by your policy.
• If all else fails, your next step will be to contact a lawyer.
• As with workplace discrimination cases based upon the PDA legislation, there are many variables when it comes to infertility and insurance discrimination. In most areas, insurance policies cover pregnancy and pregnancy related medical conditions. When such coverage is not a normal component of a plan, it can be added for an addition fee. Most plans however, do not view infertility treatments as a medical condition related to pregnancy and as such will not pay for such treatments.
• Most of the lawsuits filed under the PDA, claiming that the infertility treatments are a pregnancy related medical condition, have failed in the courts.