Making and breaking families – reading queer reproductions, stratified reproduction and reproductive justice together

Queering reproductive justice: Memories, mistakes, and motivations to transform kinship

“…Smietana, Thompson, and Twine (2018, 114) define queer as “a critical perspective toward normative reproductive arrangements and institutions made visible by LBGTQ+ family making.” Sara Ahmed (2006) explores queer theory as an orientation—or a direction—a way of looking at, feeling, and representing oneself and others in the world. I borrow from these authors and others in my use of queer as a way of seeing beyond the normative grain, and I use “queer family” expansively to include diverse forms of family making.…”

“…Luna (2018) refers to nonnormative families as “disruptive families”—a term I like and will use throughout this article. We can consider an array of disruptive families beyond the heteronormative nuclear family and contest patriarchal, racist, classist, and biological confinement (Acosta 2018; Dyer 2017; Smietana, Thompson, and Twine 2018).…”

“…Even biological ties in reproduction can be viewed through a queer lens (e.g., the trans [masculine] birthing person or the trans [feminine] person who uses her sperm through ART) (Walks 2014). A queer orientation allows us to “attend to the ways in which webs of people care for each other and for one another's children” (Smietana, Thompson, and Twine 2018, 116). Queer kinship allows us to see and learn from families who live in the shadows.…”

“…With this manuscript, I join a collective of scholars and activists who call for justice and coalition building among LGBTQ+ and other disruptive families. Smietana, Thompson, and Twine (2018, 126) suggest:

Experiences of family breaking and non‐recognition are shared across different groups, even though the particular kinds of de‐kinning and the level and kind of exclusion, violence, discrimination and stigma varies. There is hope in the idea of a shared struggle to combat the hierarchies, laws and norms that continue to render many forms of family illegible and unprotected.

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How Should “CRISPRed” Babies Be Monitored Over Their Life Course to Promote Health Equity?

“…Without shared international standards and regulations, medical tourism by and for the wealthy, exploitation of lower-resourced egg donors or surrogates or clinical trial participants across borders, and nonevidence-based treatment advertising are all likely to develop and to exacerbate inequalities of nation, class, and race. 5,6 The families and Dr Q should also discuss how to liaise with health and disability justice activists so that information can be passed among all parties about what it means to experience removal from the genome of a kind of embodiment shared with others. Given that CRISPR risks increasing ableism and diverting resources from the specific condition for which it was used, monitoring in this area is essential to protect the reproductive futures and rights of those living with the condition and those living with disabilities and chronic disease in general.…”