Reproductive biomedicine online
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Reprod. Biomed. Online · Nov 2011
Transnational commercial surrogacy in India: gifts for global sisters?
In this ethnography of transnational commercial surrogacy in a small clinic in India, the narratives of two sets of women involved in this new form of reproductive travel – the transnational clients and the surrogates themselves – are evaluated. How do these women negotiate the culturally anomalous nature of transnational surrogacy within the unusual setting of India? It is demonstrated that while both sets of women downplay the economic aspect of surrogacy by drawing on predictable cultural tools like 'gift', 'sisterhood' and 'mission', they use these tools in completely unexpected ways. Previous ethnographies of surrogacy in other parts of the world have revealed that women involved in surrogacy use these narratives to downplay the contractual nature of their relationship with each other. Ironically, when used in the context of transnational surrogacy in India, these narratives further highlight and often reify the inequalities based on class, race and nationality between the clients and suppliers of reproductive tourism in India.
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Reprod. Biomed. Online · Nov 2011
Assisted reproduction on treacherous terrain: the legal hazards of cross-border reproductive travel.
The growing phenomenon of cross-border reproductive travel has four significant legal dimensions. First, laws that ban or inhibit access to assisted reproductive procedures in one country lead patients and physicians to travel to other countries to acquire, to contribute to or to provide assisted reproductive services. Such laws may include provisions that criminalize those who assist or advise patients to undertake such travel. ⋯ Third, the law may interfere with the ultimate goal of reproductive travellers by refusing to recognize them as the parents of the child they have crossed borders to conceive. Finally, facilitating cross-border reproductive travel may expose physicians, attorneys and brokers to malpractice or other civil liability. This article explores these legal dimensions of cross-border reproductive care and uses the legal doctrines of proportionality, extraterritoriality and comity to assess the legality and normative validity of governmental efforts to curb or limit assisted reproductive practices.
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Reprod. Biomed. Online · Nov 2011
Extraterritoriality for cross-border reproductive care: should states act against citizens travelling abroad for illegal infertility treatment?
Since the development of assisted reproduction technologies, there has been discussion on which people should have access to these technologies and which treatments and techniques are morally acceptable. However, national legislation can no longer determine what citizens do. Some countries react to their citizens going abroad to evade restrictions by implementing even more restrictive laws. ⋯ The dissimilarity in these analogies shows that extraterritoriality is a radical position that is generally inappropriate in the case of CBRC. Subsequently, several potential state reactions to CBRC for law evasion are considered. It is concluded that legislation of CBRC should be modest, tolerant and nuanced.