For many people who identify as LGBTQIA+, it can be incredibly difficult to get access to the proper reproductive healthcare.  A big part of reproductive healthcare is access to technologies and services to enable one to bear children.  Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) help people who are infertile or unable to get pregnant to have children.  The idea of a “typical” infertile person is especially problematic.  This person is often pictured as a heterosexual married female who is unable to get pregnant with her husband.  However, the model is shifting because more lesbians and single people want to get pregnant.  This “typical” infertile person that is often pictured now represents a smaller portion of the people who need access to ARTs.  However, it can be very challenging for some of these non-”typical” people to get access to these technologies.  “Barriers to ARTs for homosexual couples include religious objections, moral and ethical determinations, limited financial resources, limited insurance coverage or a complete lack of insurance coverage, discrimination, and legal barriers”(Barriers for Access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies by Lesbian Women: The Search for Parity within the Healthcare System).  There are a myriad of barriers blocking homosexual couples from technologies necessary to reproduce.  The catholic faith, specifically, has a lot of objections to ARTs for lesbians.  Many of them believe that lesbianism is immoral, and do not think that any medical interventions for procreation are acceptable.  Others take issue with the idea of being a single mother.  Some view it as ethically wrong, and support andocentrist ideas that women need a male partner to have a child.  Click here to read about the discrimination that LGBTQIA+ people face when they need access to reproductive care.

People who identify as LGBTQIA+ have similar reproductive needs to cishet people as well as additional needs.  Due to many factors, the main one being discrimination, a lot of these reproductive needs are not being met.  In a study of 39 assigned-female-at-birth (AFAB) individuals, participants reported a lack of provider competence when dealing with LGBTQIA+ health.  When speaking with providers about reproductive healthcare and fertility, it is beneficial to disclose all relevant information.  For this reason, many people become more vulnerable with their providers about their identity, which opens them up to more discrimination.  Lesbians and transgender men in particular often encounter a myriad of issues with reproductive care.  Lesbians can face problems like lack of sperm, and transgender men face discrimination when pregnant, along with gender dysphoria.  Access to certain reproductive healthcare services is also limited for certain subsets of the population.  Lesbian and bisexual women as well as transgender men get less pap smears, which puts their reproductive health at risk.  One of the other big problems with the reproductive healthcare system is LGBTQIA+ erasure.  Many reproductive healthcare providers fail to recognize gender nonconforming, asexual, bisexual, etc categories.  For instance, breast cancer is very sexualized, which opens up transgender and gender nonconforming people to more discrimination should they have to deal with breast cancer.  To read specifically about the health consequences of bisexual erasure, click here.  The current healthcare system has issues including discrimination, provider lack of competency, LGBTQIA+ erasure, and provider fertility focus.  Providers often make assumptions when discussing sexual activity, as well, which can lead to improper care and treatment of reproductive issues. (Reproductive health care priorities and barriers to effective care for LGBTQ people assigned female at birth: A qualitative study).