Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

Abstract

‘Unsuspecting young South African women are heading overseas to donate their eggs to infertile couples and earn a free international holiday in the process. But, at what cost?’ This was the voice-over during a news show in South Africa in 2016 that described the phenomenon of young white South African women going abroad to ‘donate’ their eggs. Through the media, medical professionals sought to warn ‘naïve girls’ about ‘unscrupulous agencies’ taking advantage of them, and in doing so putting them at grave medical risks in ‘Third World’ clinics. Yet owners of agencies and egg providers themselves countered this imagery; here, the egg provider becomes a far more complex biocitizen who finds an opportunity to combine an act of altruism with an opportunity to earn money and travel. Through interviews with travelling egg providers, doctors and egg agencies, and analysis of public and social media, we analyse these competing discourses critically by situating them within the specific context of egg provision in South Africa. We argue that travelling egg providers' defence of their involvement may challenge some gendered assumptions made by the media and medical staff, but at the same time reaffirm what we call ‘gendered bio-responsibilities’, or the gendered nature of the emphasis on (individual) responsibilization of biological citizens. By focusing on a relatively understudied aspect of the burgeoning literature on biocitizenship, we argue that the project of biocitizenship assists the expansion and normalization of new biomedical technologies, often without proper emphasis on the disproportionate obligations on the women involved.

Egg Donation Imaginaries: Embodiment, Ethics and Future Family Formation

“…The women who provide eggs for use in fertility treatment have become something of an enigma in political and cultural terms. Their character, motivations and welfare have been the subject of fervent debate and commentary and increasingly the focus of social science research (Cattapan, 2016; Cooper and Waldby, 2014; Pande and Moll, 2018). However, until now, little consideration has been given to the ways in which they are imagined by the women (or men) who build families using the eggs they provide.…”

“…However, since its first use in 1984, demand for egg donation has increased exponentially with more than 56,000 cycles of egg donation treatment now taking place annually in Europe alone (De Geyter et al, 2018). The technique accounts for 6 per cent of all cycles of IVF globally (Dyer et al, 2016) and has also become a key driver in the global movement of both patients and egg providers as chains of supply and demand emerge from an international patchwork of regulation and commerce (Nahman, 2013; Pande and Moll, 2018; Whittaker, 2011). Associated debates about donor anonymity and welfare, payment and compensation have played out in the UK and globally and against this backdrop, the somewhat shadowlike figure of the egg donor has become an increasingly significant cultural and political subject.…”

Visa Stamps for Injections: Traveling Biolabor and South African Egg Provision

“…South Africa is recognized as one of the popular hubs for medical travel, with active support from the government (Mazzaschi 2011; Namberger 2019; Moll 2019; Pande and Moll 2018). The historical inequalities in colonial and apartheid South Africa have created a glaring public–private divide that is convenient for the private health sector enterprises catering to international clients.…”

“…Egg provision becomes another instance of "bio-responsibilization," the emphasis on individual responsibilities of biological citizens, that is often explicitly and disproportionately gendered. Such gendered burden of responsibilities and risks displaces blame away from the state and medical professionals and conveniently places it on the "choices" made by the egg providers themselves (Pande and Moll 2018).…”

“…Egg agencies are framed as “robbing women of their chances of ever having their own babies,” and the women themselves are portrayed either as easily duped, naïve girls or greedy and lazy millennials, looking to make some quick money. I discuss these in more detail in another article (Pande and Moll 2018).…”