Changing Fertility Landscapes: Exploring the Reproductive Routes and Choices of Fertility Patients from China for Assisted Reproduction in Russia

Weis, Christina

doi:10.1007/s41649-020-00156-w

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…The influence of the growth in the Chinese markets is seen both in Southeast Asia and in former Soviet states, where agencies and clinics are reporting expansion (Weis, 2021). Formerly, Chinese intended parents sought surrogacy in the United States and although demand for US surrogacy remains strong, more affordable options are now being sought elsewhere, along with arrangements allowing children to receive Chinese citizenship and registration by being born in China.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The emergence of Mexico and Thailand as major reprohubs for the trade in surrogacy also attracted considerable anthropological attention (Hovav, 2019; Schurr, 2018; Whittaker 2019). Furthermore, a handful of empirical studies have focused on less-known surrogacy locations, such as Russia (Dushina et al, 2016; Siegl, 2018a, 2018c; Smietana et al, 2021; Weis, 2019, 2021) Georgia (Vertommen et al, 2022; Vertommen and Reyns, 2019), Ukraine (Siegl, 2018b), and Canada (Fisher and Hoskins, 2013). Other studies have documented Australian intended parents’ experiences of surrogacy in India (Stockey-Bridge, 2018) and the complex social and legal barriers and complications involved in such movements (Hammarberg et al, 2015; Riggs and Due, 2017; Dempsey, 2013; Millbank, 2014).…”

Section: The Development Of Cross-border Surrogacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emerging “repronubs” and “repropreneurs”: Transnational surrogacy in Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Laos

Whittaker

Gerrits

Weis

2022

International Journal of Comparative Sociology

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In this article, we offer an analysis of the development of “repronubs”: less-known locations offering small-scale, niche cross-border gestational surrogacy or surrogacy services for a regional market. This analytical category of “repronubs” is useful to describe the formation of the industry from small local sites to those offering cross-border services. Based on our work in these locations, we compare the markets, regulatory contexts, and organization of the industry in Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Laos, focusing on the “repropreneurs” or surrogacy facilitation agents as pivotal in the emergence of these sites. These “repronubs” highlight the surrogacy trade between countries of the Global South and are established next to or instead of the more well-known North–South destinations. We document how surrogacy itself is increasingly stratified between higher cost and better-regulated environments such as in certain states of the United States or Canada and lower cost, less well regulated, and regionally focused environments in the settings we describe. These locations are characterized by poor or liberal regulations, the existence of local in vitro fertilization (IVF) expertise, and the emergence of local repropreneurs driving the trade using their social networks. The growth of demand from China and the growing affluent middle class in Africa is creating further markets for such regional “nubs.” Studying surrogacy in such locations is made difficult by the secrecy and confidentiality surrounding it.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Development Of Cross-border Surrogacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging “repronubs” and “repropreneurs”: Transnational surrogacy in Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Laos

Whittaker

Gerrits

Weis

2022

International Journal of Comparative Sociology

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“…Many locales featuring therapeutic landscapes have seen a rise with health tourism as noticed by Yan and He [12]. Their study contributes to the relational thinking of therapeutic landscapes and health tourism and attempts to enrich the interlacing dynamics from the vantage point of the tourismscape [12], [13].…”

Section: What Is Known About the Medical Tourism Landscape?mentioning

confidence: 93%

Untitled

2022

JSST-RL

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The global rise in the medical tourism business has reshaped and redistributed the resources at the micro-level and created its landscape. Here, medical technology is advanced, affordable, and available to all. Popularly known as "medscapes", these medical tourism landscapes are evolving to serve the dire needs of patients . Perhaps, The role and contribution of medical tourism to reshaping the natural and socio-economic landscapes at the neighborhood scale is yet to gain proper attention in academia. This letter aims to invite scholarly attention to this emerging notion of the medical tourism landscape in geographical studies by revisiting some of the existing literature.

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“…For example, following the closures in India as an international surrogacy destination, Nepal, Thailand, and Mexico became popular destinations; closures of those countries caused other destinations to develop [14] . Eastern Europe saw an increase in cross-border reproductive travel, partly due to the lower costs and favorable legislation which allows treatments prohibited elsewhere [9,15] , yet the current war in Ukraine has decimated the industry there and it is already shifting to other locations such as Georgia. At the same time, there has been an increase in patterns of "hybrid" reproductive care, in which treatments occur across several jurisdictions or surrogates and gametes move to circumvent either legal restrictions on treatment options, or because of a shortage of ova or surrogates [14] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in engagement in surrogacy by nationality 2018–2020: a survey of surrogacy agencies

Everingham¹,

Whittaker²

2022

Global Reproductive Health

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Introduction: Global reproductive destinations are constantly changing, and so is the cross-border reproductive movement of both gametes and intended parents seeking to build families. Quantifying the use of cross-border surrogacy is difficult given no reliable data exists on the global patterns of use of CBRC generally or surrogacy in particular. Methods: Approximately 150 surrogacy agencies in countries offering surrogacy to foreigners were invited to provide consolidated data on the number of commissioning singles and couples who signed with their agency for surrogacy services over the 2018-2020 calendar years, by nationality of the biological intended parent(s). Twenty-four agencies (16%) reported on 5968 clients. Results: Other than the United States, agencies were involved predominately in arrangements for foreigners. In the United States, other than the large domestic market, France, Australia, and Israel were large source countries. Australia and France were also large source countries for Canada. China was overwhelmingly the largest source country engaging in Ukraine. In Georgia, other than Georgian nationals, China, Israel, and the United States were the largest foreign source countries. In Greece, apart from locals, the largest source countries were Italy and Australia. Colombia reported a wide spread of foreign clientele with Israel, the United States, and Canada as the largest. COVID-19 had a significant impact on enrolments in Georgia and Ukraine-each experienced large declines in enrolments when comparing 2019-2020. In contrast, despite travel bans in 2020, agencies in 3 of 4 unregulated countries continued to report increases in enrolments. Conclusions: The global cross-border surrogacy market remains highly volatile, experiencing rapid growth and decline, especially in newer destinations. Source countries providing surrogacy clients are based partly on proximity and cultural ties, but more so on affordability. Further research is required to monitor the effects of engagement in newer destinations with fewer protections.

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Changing Fertility Landscapes: Exploring the Reproductive Routes and Choices of Fertility Patients from China for Assisted Reproduction in Russia

Cited by 15 publications

References 48 publications

Emerging “repronubs” and “repropreneurs”: Transnational surrogacy in Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Laos

Emerging “repronubs” and “repropreneurs”: Transnational surrogacy in Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Laos

Untitled

Trends in engagement in surrogacy by nationality 2018–2020: a survey of surrogacy agencies

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