Reproductive Technology: How Far Do We Go?Resources to Learn More

Reproductive Technologies and Social Justice

Overview of the Topic

The history of the development and use of reproductive technologies is more than a story of “miracle babies” born, and safe, effective birth control methods developed. It is a complicated, often painful history in which poor women, women of color, and other marginalized persons have been exploited in the development and use of those technologies, and also excluded from their benefits. In the United States, sterilization has been employed, at various points in the country’s history, to limit reproductive choices of several groups, including Native, Puerto Rican, and African American women, as well as women and men with mental illness or intellectual disability. More recently, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) such as Norplant and IUDs have been similarly deployed. For instance, in the early 1990s, seven states introduced legislation that would have mandated Norplant for women who received various forms of public assistance, or who had records of illegal drug use. While forced sterilization and contraception represent one form of exploitation and domination visited upon marginalized women, the introduction of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, which made it possible to “outsource” one’s pregnancy through surrogacy, represent another. Economically marginalized women, both domestically and abroad,  

The development of increasingly-sophisticated techniques mean that the promise of eliminating genetic diseases and disorders is coming ever nearer. Such possibilities bring with them new possibilities for marginalizing persons with disabilities. To begin with, there is the matter of what constitutes a disability or disease? Some conditions that might be termed disabilities by the medical establishment are understood quite differently by “insiders.” Deafness is one important and visible example. If “we” could eliminate all inherited deafness, does that mean we should? Furthermore, techniques that allow the “editing” of our genome raise the spectre of “designer babies,” selected for traits of appearance and other features that are deemed “desirable.” Again, does the scientific possibility to select for appearance dictate that we should explore that possibility?

Finally, the costs of many technologies--from IVF to surrogacy to those still in the experimental stages--are prohibitive. 

Questions to conside

• How do we decide what reproductive choices humans should be able to make, from among the choices that might be possible?

• Who are the “we” who should make these decisions?

• How do we regulate surrogacy in ways that honor the rights of all parties?
  
  

Resources Recommended by Nobel Speaker Ruha Benjamin

Interrogating Equity: A Disability Justice Approach to Genetic Engineering

State of Shame (Video)
Genetics in the United States.

Female Inmates Sterilized in California Prison Without Approval (Center for Investigative Reporting, 2013) (6 pp.)  

From park bench to lab bench - What kind of future are we designing? (Ruha Benjamin video)

Resources Recommended by Nobel Speaker Marsha Saxton

Center for Genetics and Society

Council for Responsible Genetics

World Institute on Disability.

Disability Studies at UC Berkeley

Works Consulted and Resources for Further Reading

Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Developing Countries: Are We Caring Yet? (Fertility and Sterility, 2009) (4 pp.)
Describes the necessary tools to provide developing countries with assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Choosing the Sexual Orientation of Children Edward Stein (Bioethics, 1998) (24 pp.)
If it would be possible to choose the sexual orientation of one’s children, it is likely parents would select heterosexuality. This leads to the question whether such techniques, if available, should be legally available or morally permissible.

From Sperm Runners to Sperm Banks: Lesbians, Assisted Conception, and Challenging the Fertility Industry 1971-1983 (Journal of Women’s History, 2016) (20 pp.)
A history of lesbian advocacy for assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Genetic Engineering will Change the World Forever - CRISPR (Kurzgesagt, 2016) (video)
How should we respond to the promises and the problems of this gene editing technology. The video includes a brief history of reproductive technologies.

Guarding Against Coercion While Ensuring Access: A Delicate Balance (Guttmacher Institute, 2014) (23 pp.)

Inequitable access to assisted reproductive technology for the low-income Brazilian population: a qualitative study” (Human Reproduction, 2011) (7 pp.)
Report of a study concerning low income Brazilians’ access to assisted reproductive technology.

Medical Tourism: Your Health Can Now be Outsourced (Ted Talks, 2013) (video)
Although it is cheaper to travel across the world for medical help, risks may outweigh savings.

The Race Idea in Reproductive Technologies: Beyond Epistemic Scientism and Technological Mastery (Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2015) (11 pp.)

Reconfiguring Child and Parental Rights: A Case for Coerced Contraception Charles F. Thurber (Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 2005) (16 pp.)

Surrogacy, Slavery, and the ownership of life (Legal Journal, 1990) (12 pp.)
A classic discussion of surrogacy in America. Surrogacy benefits infertile and disabled women by providing them with opportunities to raise children. It also takes away the rights of parents and turns children into business transactions.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CRispr and gene-editing 

LEARN MORE ABOUT male contraception 

LEARN MORE ABOUT mitochondrial transfer 

Special thanks to Gustavus student Keliyah Perkins for compiling these resources.