Reproductive Entanglements in Times of War: Transnational Gestational Surrogacy in Ukraine and Beyond

Until early 2022, within the global fertility industry, Ukraine was one of the most important destinations for reproductive travel worldwide, particularly specializing in gestational surrogacy for international intended parents. Already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, the surrogacy market, and here especially surrogates and intended parents, was strongly affected by the Russian invasion in February 2022. In this article, I discuss and analyze the reproductive entanglements of surrogates, intended parents, and the children born through such transnational surrogacy arrangements in Ukraine and how this extreme crisis of war exposed and exacerbated existing vulnerabilities

Reproductive Entanglements in Times of War: Transnational Gestational Surrogacy in Ukraine and Beyond

Until early 2022, within the global fertility industry, Ukraine was one of the most important destinations for reproductive travel worldwide, particularly specializing in gestational surrogacy for international intended parents. Already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, the surrogacy market, and here especially surrogates and intended parents, was strongly affected by the Russian invasion in February 2022. In this article, I discuss and analyze the reproductive entanglements of surrogates, intended parents, and the children born through such transnational surrogacy arrangements in Ukraine and how this extreme crisis of war exposed and exacerbated existing vulnerabilities

Reprowebs: a conceptual approach to elasticity and change in the global assisted reproduction industry

In the last few decades, assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have become increasingly transregional and transnational, often involving travel within or between countries or even continents. Until recently, the global ART industry was marked by so-called ‘reprohubs’—places (such as southern California, Dubai, Anand, and Mumbai) specializing in the provision of reproductive services. While reprohubs continue to exist, in the last few years, many have splayed out, transforming into something more akin to webs that encompass, but go beyond these hubs. These webs show a unique dynamic capability to tighten, entangle, or extend in reaction to local and global changes, a characteristic which became particularly obvious during the global Covid-19 pandemic. In this paper, we propose conceptualizing this new dynamic capability as ‘reprowebs’—an approach that adds a new dimension to the existing conceptualization of reproductive travel and helps us to better understand current developments in the global ART industry

Paperwork: Following the trail of (identity) papers in transnational commercial surrogacy

Transnational surrogacy—the carrying of a child by a woman in one country on behalf of persons in another—is strongly shaped by documents. Of these, identity documents are particularly crucial as they establish the belonging of a child born through such an arrangement both to its parents (birth certificate) and to a country (passport). However, the acquisition of these documents is subject to national laws that may contradict one another in transnational settings where citizens of more than one country are involved. As a result, in the last few years, there have been several cases of children stuck in legal limbo without clear parenthood and citizenship. Based on ethnographic research in India and Germany, we analyze how in such a transnational setting, documents and documentation become part of the making and unmaking of persons and belonging

Shifting surrogacies: Comparative ethnographies

Gestational surrogacy is a reproductive arrangement where a woman gestates a child for others—the “intended parents”—in order to be handed over to them after birth. Since the turn of the millennium, demands for surrogacy have continuously increased due to social and demographic changes, rising rates of infertility, and the normalization of new, non-heteronormative, family forms. Many countries prohibit surrogacy, and others that previously permitted this reproductive arrangement closed down as a result of political decisions or surrogacy scandals. Moreover, surrogacy is offered at greatly varying costs, ranging from approximately US$50,000 in countries like the Republic of Georgia to US$200,000 in fertility clinics in California. Accordingly, many of these arrangements are transnational, with intended parents who cannot access surrogacy or afford surrogacy in their home country commissioning it in countries such as the United States, until recently Ukraine, and today increasingly in the Republic of Georgia. Existing research has focused on surrogacy from different angles, such as practices of kinning and de-kinning, inequality and stratification, the political economy of the fertility industry, and its gender dimensions. We engage in, but further these debates by drawing attention to settings, accounts, experiences, and new theoretical notions that diverge from “mainstream” presentations of surrogacy. Moreover, in this Special Issue, we experimented with writing joint papers with a deliberative aim to provide comparative analyses and emphasize the links between and diversity of different cases of surrogacy. Therefore, all papers have an explicit comparative character and are all based on empirical studies from more than one field site. They provide nuanced understandings of surrogacy arrangements, grounded in empirical data rather than ideological, political, or moral assessments

Paperwork: Following the trail of (identity) papers in transnational commercial surrogacy

Transnational surrogacy—the carrying of a child by a woman in one country on behalf of persons in another—is strongly shaped by documents. Of these, identity documents are particularly crucial as they establish the belonging of a child born through such an arrangement both to its parents (birth certificate) and to a country (passport). However, the acquisition of these documents is subject to national laws that may contradict one another in transnational settings where citizens of more than one country are involved. As a result, in the last few years, there have been several cases of children stuck in legal limbo without clear parenthood and citizenship. Based on ethnographic research in India and Germany, we analyze how in such a transnational setting, documents and documentation become part of the making and unmaking of persons and belonging. © The Author(s) 2022

What does prenatal testing mean for women who have tested?

We have conducted and analysed 49 qualitative interviews with women in Germany and Israel who had actually taken a prenatal test. The analysis was focussed on the meanings attributed to testing, i.e. their reasons and aims of testing. Seven typical meaning patterns have been found. They range from seeking empowerment from the knowledge gained, avoiding suffering, being prepared for a child with special needs to satisfying the social environment, or fulfilling the physician's recommendation. The findings give insight into the hermeneutics of testing from the point of view of those who have tested

Big Data und die gesellschaftlichen Folgen

Die Erzeugung, Verknüpfung und Auswertung großer Datenmengen, oft mit dem Begriff „Big Data“ verbunden, beeinflusst in unserer modernen, digitalisierten Gesellschaft beinahe alle Lebensbereiche. Vernetzte Computertechnologie, Smartphones, soziale Netzwerke, vielfältige Online-Angebote und die Durchdringung des Alltags mit dem „Internet der Dinge“ führen zu einer rasanten Vervielfachung von Datenquellen und Datenmengen. Neben den Potenzialen von Big Data, z. B. in den Bereichen Wirtschaft oder Medizin, werden zunehmend auch die gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen deutlich. Es ergeben sich insbesondere Fragen zu kommerzieller und staatlicherÜberwachung, informationeller Selbstbestimmung, Schutz der Privatsphäre, Transparenz bei den Verfahren der Datenverarbeitung oder zu Fehlern bei Datenverwendungen sowie automatisierten Entscheidungen. Das Projekt ABIDA (Assessing Big Data – Begleitforschung Big Data) verfolgt das Ziel, Wissen aus gesellschaftlicher Perspektive über Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen und Handlungsoptionen von Big Data zusammenzubringen, zu erzeugen, zu vertiefen und zu verbreiten