Current Reproductive Technologies: Increased Access and Choice?

Abstract

This article discusses key issues related to current reproductive technologies including contextual and personal barriers to use, complexity of decision making, limited access to technologies for poor women and women of color, and the politics and social controversy surrounding this area. New reproductive technologies have to be put to the same test as any other product--can and will women use them correctly? We need to not only know about the technology itself; we also need to know about the individuals who intend to use the technology and about contextual factors that influence use. Accordingly, the articles in this issue focus on the multiple determinants that influence acceptability of reproductive technologies and the policy, political, and legal implications associated with their use.

Transforming Hope: The Lived Experience of Infertile Women Who Terminated Treatment After in Vitro Fertilization Failure

“…Many studies indicate that the most important factors in influencing the success of IVF are the woman's age and the function of her ovaries (Chuang et al, 2003;Jee et al, 2004;Klinkert et al, 2004;Olivius et al, 2002). Beckman and Harvey (2005) also emphasized that we need to know not only about the technology, but also about the individuals who intend to use it.…”

What shapes public attitudes towards assisted reproduction technologies?

“…Previous studies also stated that children in single-parent families do worse than those in two-parent households, due to financial strain in single parent households, less parental involvement and less supervision of activities outside home (Astone andMcLanahan 1991, Manning andLamb 2003). In addition, marital restriction might be motivated by homophobic attitudes in countries where same-sex marriage is not allowed (Beckman andHarvey 2005, Jacob 1997). However, several studies show that it is not the number or the gender of the parents, but the quality of parenting that matters Biblarz 2001, Biblarz andStacey 2010).…”

“…The most extensive literature on ART focuses on the attitudes of people who have donated or used donated gametes in fertility treatments (Kazem et al 1995, Kirkman 2003. Secondly, previous researches focused on one special area such as egg donations or surrogacy (Beckman and Harvey 2005, Bolton et al 1991, Kazem et al 1995 and did not examine the attitudes towards assisted reproduction in general, although the general public probably has more reservations about ART than its users (Bolton et al 1991, Shreffler et al 2010. A third limitation of previous studies is that they were carried out usually in a single context (Shreffler et al 2010, Wennberg et al 2015.…”

Assisted Reproductive Technologies

“…At present, approximately 75,000 children are believed to be born yearly through the use of ART's. At least 15,000 of these children are the result of in-vitro fertilization; an additional 1,000 children are born each year through the use of gestational surrogacy; and, in the past decade, 6,000 women in the United States gave birth to children using egg donations (Beckman & Harvey, 2005;Shapiro, Shapiro, & Paret, 2001).…”

“…Some have argued that such technologies involve the commodification of the processes of reproduction and motherhood as well as the reinforcement of women's domination by "oppressive pronatalist ideologies" (Gimenez, 1991, p. 337). Others have maintained that ART's allow women greater freedom in their reproductive choices (Beckman & Harvey, 2005), should be seen "as an expression of a woman's autonomous decision making about her reproduction" (Bennett, 2003, p. 168), and can eradicate the need for the biological family as the only means of reproduction (Firestone, 1971).…”