No equality in assisted procreation

The quality of the sperm drops and pregnancies occur always later. Therefore, Consequence: the risks of an unfulfilled child’s desire in particular due to age increase. For example, In Switzerland, between 6000 and 7000 couples use medically assisted procreation each year.

These techniques include artificial insemination. Meanwhile, which consists in placing the sperm in the immediate vicinity of the fallopian tubes, the in vitro fertilization methods (IVF)-the most common of which is the intra-cytoplasmic injection of sperm, which consists in injecting a single sperm directly into the ovule-as well as the freezing of sperm and oveules.

In Switzerland alone, around thirty medically assisted procreation centers offer various reproductive techniques, and there are thousands in the world. For example, “The desire for a child has become a flourishing market. For example, ” notes Carolin Schurr, professor of social and cultural geography at the University of no equality assisted procreation Bern. Furthermore, “Transnational consortia earn a lot of money with sperm, eggs, IVF and reprogenetic technologies.” It is estimated that the global fertility market will reach between $ 40 and $ 80 billion by 2030.

Rarely altruistic ova

In Switzerland. Consequently, reproductive medicine regulations are strict compared to other European countries: in addition to substitution maternity, egg donation is prohibited. Moreover, In 2019. Therefore, 500 couples or single persons went abroad to access reproduction techniques, according to a study by the researcher’s team, in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Center for Research in Gender Studies at the University of Bern.

It is an approximation, the authors believing that reproductive tourism is much more frequent. In addition, The donation of eggs concerned some 80% of cases. Similarly, most often with a trip to Spain, considered as the first European destination in this context.

Carolin Schurr deplores the fact that. Consequently, in the no equality assisted procreation public debate on ova donation, the prospect of people wishing to have a child dominates. Moreover, His team is therefore interested in the experiences of the donors and questioned 30 in Spain. For example, “Altruistic gift is an illusion,” explains the researcher. Nevertheless, The donation of oocytes almost always has economic reasons. Meanwhile, ” Among the interviewees were women affected by precariousness. Furthermore, but also women from the middle class who used this money to finance their studies or provide for the needs of a loved one.

In Spain, oocyte donors do not receive a salary, but compensation of around 1000 euros per donation. Meanwhile, “Some have taken up to 20 egg samples,” says the geographer. Moreover, For them, it was a simple job. ” A very risky work: according to an expertise from the German NGO Genethisches Netzwerk. the donation of eggs can cause potentially fatal ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, no equality assisted procreation infertility and psychosocial disorders.

According to Carolin Schurr. the notion of donation also follows gender stereotype according to which women provide reproductive services for love: “Doctors and laboratory technicians earn money with these processes. Why not the donors? ” Many feminists today categorically reject the donation of eggs: those in favor of southern. eastern Europe as well as global south would be exploited to satisfy the reproductive desire of the rich. In Switzerland, we are also currently discussing the form that a donation of fair ova could take. The Confederation reacted to increasing demand and set the main lines for an authorization from 2026 at the end of January.

The social sciences have long been interested in equity in terms of procreation. contraception and abortion which they consider as so many facets of the same complex theme. In the United States, in the 1990s, African American women developed the militant no equality assisted procreation concept of “reproductive justice”. For them. being able to have your own body and freely decide to have a child or not also depends on socioeconomic factors and access to resources. Carolin Schurr refers there in his current research. With a team of eight people. she examines how procreation is guided in a political targeted manner, what reproduction is desired and to whom it is refused.

No equality assisted procreation

Too poor for contraception

Such inequalities appear characteristic in a project by Milena Wegelin. The social anthropologist of the Haute École specialized Bernese studies with his colleague Laura Perler the situation of pregnant. women in asylum centers. To this end, she notably conducted interviews with Arabic -speaking women in the canton of Bern. Despite a desire for a child, many of them decide not to get pregnant once arrived in a center. “The situation of pregnant women is particularly precarious in no equality assisted procreation federal centers for asylum applicants,” notes the researcher. Many of them do not eat enough. not having the possibility of satisfying the specific food needs of a pregnancy and cooking. ”

And sometimes there is a lack of postpartum care spaces and breastfeeding rooms. “At the same time. it is difficult for them not to get pregnant because they often do not have access to contraception.” Social assistance is not enough to buy the pill, for example. Hence this paradoxical situation: in collective accommodation. asylum applicants fall pregnant without wanting to or are deprived of the appropriate conditions to carry out a pregnancy. In parallel, Swiss spending fortunes to achieve their desire for a child abroad.

The injustices in the field of procreation have a long history, notes Nicole Bourbonnais, researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She published in the spring a work on reproductive policies in the 20th century. no equality assisted procreation “Eugenic policies promoted forced sterilization in a number of countries at the beginning of the 20th century. as later demography control programs,” said the Canadian historian.

Even today. there are cases of forced sterilization, which generally target marginalized groups and ethnic minorities, as well as people in poverty or disability. “The dominant groups are generally encouraged to procreate, while minorities are subject to pressures or deliberately prevented from doing so.” This policy affected Trans in Switzerland until 2017. During a sexual reassignment operation, biological women had to be sterilized so that their new sex was officially recognized.

No equality assisted procreation

Switzerland at the tail of European peloton

“Society absolutely wanted to prevent there to be dry men. women who fertilize,” notes Tanja Krones, a specialist in clinical ethics at the Zurich University Hospital. In addition, society was blindly stooding out of the principle that trans people did not want children. no equality assisted procreation “A whole generation has never been able to procreate due to forced sterilizations.” These were not abolished in Switzerland until 2017, thanks to a decision of the European Court of Human Rights.

Tanja Krones co -edit the Human Reproduction REPRODED Research pole at the University of Zurich. which emphasizes medical, ethical and legal medical technologies. The Special Interest Group Transgender and Gender Diversity, created in 2024, will also bring together research in this area. The knowledge acquired will be subsequently integrated into the training of doctors. For Tanja Krones, Switzerland is a great delay to fill in terms of reproductive justice. According to the World Health Organization. the inability to obtain pregnancy after a year of unprotected regular intercourse is for example considered a disease.

The WHO therefore recommends that states consider in vitro fertilization as an integral part of reproductive health. Many European countries – including France. Belgium, Sweden no equality assisted procreation and Denmark – already cover IVF costs, also also for lesbian couples and single women. But not Switzerland. An injustice, believes Tanja Krones: “The question inevitably arises: who can afford to have children in Switzerland?” Because research clearly shows this: the world market
Reproduction experiences deep inequalities.