A Brave New World? Pronatalism and the Future of Reproductive Technologies

Abstract

Feminist bioethicists hope for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to be deployed for emancipatory ends. Funding, liberalization, and non-discriminatory ART access are considered actionable ways to service emancipatory goals that may benefit all aspiring parents. In this paper, however, I will explicate a growing, global threat to the fulfilment of emancipatory ideals in ART practice despite such steps: an uptick of institutionalized pronatalism(s) which situate low fertility as a site of demographic disaster, and which consequently position primarily women’s bodies as both its cause and solution. Under such conditions, ARTs are at risk of being co-opted for harmful and oppressive demographic designs, rather than for emancipatory ends.