Fertility Holidays: IVF Tourism and the Reproduction of Whiteness
Amy Speier
Abstract
Millions of North Americans are priced out of North America’s expensive reproductive medicine industry. Ultimately, women learn about the possibility of doing IVF abroad, and this book reveals the layers of desire that motivate them to travel halfway across the world in their quest for parenthood. A global marketing chain has brilliantly packaged “fertility holidays”: a European vacation alongside a healthcare system where doctors really care and want you to have your beautiful white baby. Brokers promise couples that they will experience a more relaxing IVF cycle while also assuring them Czec ... More
Millions of North Americans are priced out of North America’s expensive reproductive medicine industry. Ultimately, women learn about the possibility of doing IVF abroad, and this book reveals the layers of desire that motivate them to travel halfway across the world in their quest for parenthood. A global marketing chain has brilliantly packaged “fertility holidays”: a European vacation alongside a healthcare system where doctors really care and want you to have your beautiful white baby. Brokers promise couples that they will experience a more relaxing IVF cycle while also assuring them Czech doctors offer better care along with the highest standards of technology. Ultimately, my book reveals the alienation of poor patients in the U.S., their active response as they assume the role of global consumers of health care. Fertility clinics around the globe have begun to develop marketing schemes that cater to this North American desire for care, since it is an obvious deficiency in our healthcare system.
Keywords:
fertility holiday,
quest for parenthood,
neoliberal healthcare,
global marketplace,
personal responsibility,
IVF broker,
Czech Republic,
anonymous egg donation,
contradiction,
internet
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781479827664 |
Published to NYU Press Scholarship Online: January 2017 |
DOI:10.18574/nyu/9781479827664.001.0001 |