The baby business booms: Economic geographies of assisted reproduction

Abstract

This paper explores how reproductive life has changed through the development, transnational spread, and commercialization of assisted reproductive technologies (in vitro fertilization, gamete donation, and surrogacy). perspective into the study of assisted reproductive technologies and reproductive economic geographies that push the boundaries of economic geography towards the economies of (assisted) reproduction.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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

“…In the USA, LGBTQ+ affirmative psychological research and the rise of the global LGBTQ+ rights movement (Paternotte, 2015) combined with the consumer-orientation and state-bystate regulation of the fertility industry to make California in particular an important but expensive destination for gay surrogacy (Thompson, 2016). Gay men and heterosexual intended parents who could afford the expense of travel and commercial surrogacy abroad started commissioning surrogacy in those states in the USA where it is legal, and in other shifting locations such as India, Mexico, and Thailand before transnational surrogacy bans came into force (Schurr, 2018;Twine, 2015). Currently, the only stable surrogacy market available to intended parents of any nationalityas well as of any sexuality and civil status, including gay menexists in some states in the USA, notably California.…”

Troublesome reproduction: surrogacy under scrutiny

“…Transnational surrogacy has not only caused new debate on a feminist politics of reproduction ( Ekman et al, 2017 , Lewis, 2017 ), but has also led to empirical research being undertaken in new and multiple places by scholars from a wide range of countries. Transnational surrogacy has served as an illustration of the geography of contemporary reproduction ( Deomampo, 2013 , Schurr, 2018 ), reflecting a broader scholarly interest in the global dissemination and local appropriation of ART ( Inhorn, 2003 , Melhuus, 2009 ). Scholars have noted the significance of the institutionalization of surrogacy within a market context ( Nadimpally and Venkatachalam, 2016 , Sama, 2012 , Spar, 2006 ) and to the role of the state, governance and regulation ( Knecht et al, 2012 , Mitra et al, 2018 ), including different legal models, such as commercial and altruistic versions of surrogacy ( Allan, 2017 , Horsey and Sheldon, 2012 ).…”

“…In past years, there has been a broader interest among scholars regarding what it means that children are increasingly acquired and conceived in markets ( Goodwin, 2010 , Schurr, 2018 , Spar, 2006 ). Economist Deborah Spar has described markets in babies, together comprising ‘the baby business’, which is, as she notes, ‘alive, well, and growing’ ( Spar, 2006: 196 ).…”

Governing Parental Desires and Vulnerabilities: <i>Affective Biopolitics in the Context of Norwegian Citizens’ Repro-Migration</i>

“…our imaginations of how babies and parents are made and kinship is formed (e.g . Franklin 2013;Strathern 1992;Thompson 2005), but also for shifting where reproduction takes place, calling for a perspective on the geography of reproduction (Deomampo 2013;Schurr 2018). Conventionally associated with the bedroom, the household and, also, the nationstate, reproduction may now take place across borders, illustrating a broader tendency of globalisation (Browner & Sargent 2011) and a moment 'characterized by accelerated mobility and migration of people, bodies, (reproductive) substances, technologies, knowledge and expertise' (Kroløkke et al 2016: 1).…”