Innovating Reproduction and (Re)Generating Parenthood Possibilities: Critical Studies of New Technologies

Abstract

Recent years have seen the rising popularity of digital health technologies for women, advances in reproductive genetics, as well as the proliferation of new forms of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Along with innovations, however, come debates about their safety, effectiveness, and broader impact on consumers. In addition, ART has generated complex configurations for family building. Reproduction has been reshaped to include individuals, couples, and groups previously excluded from biological family building. Third party gamete use, embryo adoption, multi-parent embryos, two mother gestation, sperm freezing, and “planned oocyte cryopreservation” have invited new potential consumers to use these technologies. Critical STS scholarship has attended to the “potentiality” (Timmermans and Buchbinder 2013) of emerging ART, and the generation of new avenues for family building. Scholars have also drawn attention to social inequalities perpetuated through the use of reproductive health innovations, including fertility treatments, novel forms of contraception, genetic testing, and digital health applications. This panel is meant to further such conversations by exploring the ways in which new artefacts can reinforce/challenge existing power hierarchies and family building practices.

Individual Presentations

• Medical Innovation in IVF: Technological Advancement in the Age of Evidence-Based Medicine - Manuela Perrotta, Queen Mary, University of London; Alina Geampana, Queen Mary University of London

• ART During Zika Epidemic in Brazil: Preconception Testing, Risk Factors and Intersectional Inequalities - Helena Prado, CEPED/IFRIS

• A New Maternity Uncertainty? - Katherine Michelle Johnson, Tulane University

• Reproducing Kinship: How Do Donor-Conceived Adults Think of Themselves and Their Family in the Age of Assisted Reproductive Technologies? - Janelle Curry, York University

Session Organizers

• Alina Geampana, Queen Mary University of London

• Moira Kyweluk, Northwestern University