Hilary Swank sees a major—sexist—gap in SAG-AFTRA‘s Health Plan. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday night in California federal court, she reveals that she has been seeking coverage for her treatment of ovarian cysts, and has been repeatedly turned away.
“This matter addresses the shockingly antiquated question of whether the sole purpose of a woman, and specifically her ovaries, is to procreate,” states the opening of a complaint after quoting The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood.
In 2015, she started undergoing procedures. Per the complaint: “Seizing upon Swank’s choice to keep her options open, the Trustees pointed to an exclusion in the Plan for 'infertility treatment,' relying on the notion that the only purpose of preserving the health of an ovary is to procreate. Despite Swank's, and her board-certified doctors', insistence that she was not seeking coverage for fertility treatment, but only for treatment for her ovarian cysts, the Trustees dug in their heels. The Trustees repeatedly said that there was no medically necessary reason to treat or monitor ovarian cysts other than for 'infertility treatment.'”
Swank says that the cysts cause extreme acid reflux, pelvic pain, cramping and fatigue. She's represented by attorney Kirk Pasich.