Reprint: Where has the quest for conception taken us? Lessons from anthropology and sociology

Abstract

Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born more than 40 years ago in England. For Louise Brown's infertile mother, Lesley, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was the 'hope technology' which allowed her to overcome her tubal infertility after 9 years of heart-breaking involuntary childlessness. Since then, IVF has travelled to diverse global locations, where millions of individuals and couples have embarked on technologically assisted 'quests for conception'. After 40 years of IVF, where has the quest for conception taken us? This article outlines seven major global trajectories -namely, that the quest for conception has become more: (i) technological, because of a profusion of IVF-based innovations; (ii) masculine, because of men's eager uptake of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, their own 'masculine hope technology'; (iii) stratified, due to persistent race-and class-based barriers in IVF access; (iv) transnational, as infertile and other involuntarily childless people search across borders to overcome restrictions in their home countries; (v) selective, as IVF-based reprogenetic technologies eliminate genetic disease while exacerbating sex selection; (vi) moral, as religious sensibilities both accommodate and curtail the possibilities and outcomes of assisted reproductive technology (ART); and (vii) extended, as new cryopreservation technologies prolong the reproductive lifespan and extend reproduction to the transgender community. The article concludes with thoughts on where future quests for conception might take us, and why IVF and other reproductive technologies are 'good to think with' in both the anthropology and sociology of reproduction.

Women Who Perform Social Egg Freezing as Moral Pioneers: The Case of Ultra-Orthodox Communities in Israel

“…Marcia Inhorn (2020) outlines seven major global trajectories that signal future potentials that have yet to be realized in the field of ART-based social research, each corresponding to a recent specific influential technological or social development: 1) the profusion of technological innovations; 2) the influence on notions of masculinity as men increasingly become direct users; 3) the interaction with globalized stratification; 4) increasing employment beyond national borders; 5) IVF-based reprogenetic technologies; 6) the interaction of religious sensibilities with ARTs; and 7) the prolonging of reproductive lifespans by employing cryopreservation technologies. The present study focuses on the intersection of at least two of these trajectories and examines how the introduction of new cryopreservation technologies interacts with religious and moral sensibilities among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel.…”

“…Unlike most forms of ARTs, SEF is generally used by single women, raising moral controversies among different religious communities. The general acceptance of SEF by Protestant Christianity contrasts with Catholicism, which forbids all forms of reproductive technology-because all are deemed "unnatural," whether they are intended to prevent or to assist reproduction (Inhorn et al, 2020;Czarnecki, 2015).…”

“…While some Islamic permit egg freezing by single women (Inhorn et al, 2020), other Islamic fatwas object to SEF as they fear it may create a strong expectation among single women to use their frozen eggs one day, regardless of whether they eventually marry (Chin & Saifuddeen, 2022). In Malaysia, for example, there is a blanket ban on single Muslim women freezing their unfertilized eggs to be used later in marriage.…”

“…Social egg freezing can thus be theorized as a "techno medical fix" (Martin, 2010) for social problems lying well beyond Jewish women's individual control, such as age-related fertility decline (Birenbaum-Carmeli et al, 2021). In contrast to their secular counterparts, ultra-Orthodox singles are often expected to occupy a status of 'disembodied embodiment': refraining from expressing their sexuality or fertility and minimizing the place of their body (Inhorn et al, 2020). Social egg freezing can offer a technological bypass, enabling singles to experience their embodiment and fertility without violating social norms.…”

“…Social egg freezing can offer a technological bypass, enabling singles to experience their embodiment and fertility without violating social norms. For example, Inhorn et al (2020) described how one Jewish religious interviewee who had a strong reaction to the hormonal stimulation and produced many eggs experienced SEF as positive and empowering and as allowing her to connect to her sexuality and fertility. Social egg freezing can offer a technological solution for other distinct social problems as well.…”