The Woman or the Egg?

This chapter contextualizes the shifting popular and scientific discourses of race since the mid-twentieth century by analyzing databases of egg donors and surrogates created by agencies to connect intended parents with the women who provide these services. Selected from a list curated by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, agencies are contrasted based on their representation of traits like the race and ethnicity of surrogates and egg donors. Reproductive technologies demonstrate that despite scientific debates, race-based medicines continue to promote and reflect a popular understanding of distinct biological races. Thus, the egg donor and surrogacy databases built by ART clinics reflect often-unspoken assumptions about race and heritability.

From Mammies to Mommy Machines

This chapter examines how discourses of race are influenced by the economic and reproductive imperatives of society at different historical moments. The author compares historical examples of racialized reproduction to contemporary examples with an analysis of two legal cases involving cross-racial gestational surrogacy in the United States: Johnson v. Calvert and, more recently, Marion County Division of Children’s Services v. Melinger. The specifics of these two cases vary dramatically; most notably, African American surrogate Anna Johnson went to court for custody of the child she bore, while the more recent case focused on the parental fitness of the white intended father. However, in both instances racial difference between the surrogate and intended parents served the interests of the racially and economically privileged parties. Like cross-racial wet nursing, cross-racial gestational surrogacy is part of a complicated history of racialized reproductive labor in the United States.

Conclusion

The book concludes by linking the core themes of the text to the increasing hostility to women’s reproductive rights at the local, state, and national level. As feminist theory and practice have consistently urged individuals to recognize, personal or private matters such as ART use can in fact have enormous repercussions for how we think about, politicize, and adjudicate some of the most sacred aspects of our existence. The conclusion also revisits how intersecting identities shape one’s expectations of fertility services, access to such services, and one’s perception of his/herself as a consumer or (re)producer within this active market.

“Mommy’s Tummy Was Broken”

Based on a qualitative analysis of mainstream media sources that covered surrogacy in the early 2000s, this chapter addresses multiple narratives of surrogacy that coexisted in the popular media. The analysis highlights three primary themes in this coverage of surrogacy: “women-helping-women,” the call for regulation, and “the kinship question.” The theme of women-helping-women appeared most prevalent; it explained surrogacy primarily through the relationship between women, in which altruism motivates one woman to help another reach the epitome of femininity by becoming a mother. The theme of regulation highlights that narratives of surrogacy that have moved away from a focus on the individual “bad” surrogate or manipulative intended parents; these narratives instead emphasize the lack of regulation at the state and federal level as the principal villain. Finally, media discourse on surrogacy raises the kinship question, which reflects the anxieties raised by ARTs’ challenges to the traditional family.

Introduction

Opening with a brief exploration of the television series “Army Wives,” the introduction relates the theme of surrogacy presented in the drama to the foundational topics of this book; namely, it illustrates the changing perception of surrogacy in American culture. Our understanding of reproduction has always been informed by social rules and expectations, and these norms influence how individuals go about imagining the possibilities for family formation. The contemporary technologies that separate conception, pregnancy, and parenthood seem to offer new ways to think about reproduction, and thus much more agency to the individual to create families that may flaunt cultural norms. Considering terms such as “cross-racial gestational surrogacy,” “traditional surrogacy,” “reproductive technologies” and more, the introduction establishes the core themes of the text, relating these terms and technologies to the traditional, nuclear family within the United States.

“I Am the Baby’s Real Mother”

This chapter considers the transnational circuits of reproductive labor, particularly what is known as reproductive tourism, from the United States to India. Broadly speaking, “reproductive tourism” is a relatively recent term coined to describe the increasing travel across national boundaries by individuals seeking fertility services, including donor eggs and sperm, procedures such as in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy. Reproductive tourism is motivated by a number of factors, such as legal restrictions, long waiting lists for donors and surrogates, and expensive prices that can be greatly reduced by “shopping around” for services. Further, this chapter examines how notions of race and genetic determinism are mapped uneasily onto surrogacy in India. Intended parents benefit from the racial and economic “difference” between themselves and Indian surrogates.

The Path to Gestational Surrogacy

This chapter places reproductive technologies in historical perspective, beginning with the birth of the first child born through in vitro fertilization in 1978, the accompanied explosion of infertility services in the United States, and the development of gestational surrogacy. This chapter also considers how the advent of gestational surrogacy complicated the selection of a surrogate, the surrogate population, and the role of race in the reproductive technology industry. This chapter also introduces the feminist framework within which this book is situated by contextualizing the varied feminist responses to ARTs in the last several decades.