International Handbook on Gender and Demographic Processes, p. 105-116

What is it about?

Abstract The creation and use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) since the 1970s have offered novel ways to control fertility, to overcome infertility, and to create families. Among the practices that have resulted from the use of ARTs, surrogate pregnancy has persisted as a topic of interest among feminist scholars for more than 30 years. This chapter links social science literature about infertility treatment and surrogacy to recent work on the development of surrogacy practice in India. Transnational gestational surrogacy conducted with fertile women from India and Nepal in Indian clinics has been the subject of extensive scholarly and popular media analysis. The focus on examining inequalities inherent in transnational surrogacy while downplaying other surrogacy arrangements in India provides a window into understanding how intersectional factors influence stratified reproduction in infertility management. Examining ARTs in practice necessitates considering confluences of and conflicts over women’s autonomy, reproductive ideologies and desires, and citizenship that matter in domestic and transnational contexts. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-024-1290-1_8

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