Assisted Reproductive Technologies

This article highlights the importance of sexuality in assisted conception cycles through a method of inquiry that focuses on the biomedical professionals of the clinics studied, as well as the protocols they offer. Gamete donations and their link to incest, the organization of sperm collection, and the characterization of sexual infertility, a poorly studied form of infertility, are successively examined here. This comparative approach helps to delineate how in India and France two relatively similar, normative models of kinship and shared biotechnological tools are entwined in different conceptions of corporeality and its associations with technology.

This dissertation investigates the ways scientific and biotechnological advancement impact and change Jewish law and ethics. It analyzes the contemporary Jewish bioethical debate concerning the identification of maternity and paternity in four cases of assisted reproductive technologies (ART): in vitro fertilization, gestational surrogacy, cloning, and mitochondrial replacement therapy. Unprecedented modes of procreation engender new definitions of parenthood, challenging a longstanding Jewish framework of theology, law, and ethics. Part I develops a conceptual scaffolding for the discrete analyses of Part II, and considers the philosophical bases of parenthood, the gendered nature of Jewish legal bioethics, the relationship of law and ethics, and ways of relating religion and science. For each case of ART, Part II examines the biological science and technology in historical context, locates Jewish bioethical concerns within the larger bioethical discussion, and critically reviews the epistemological and axiological dimensions of the legally oriented analyses of a select group of leading Jewish bioethicists, chosen for their copious writings on ART and contextualizing oeuvres: Rabbi J. David Bleich, Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, and the collaborative writings of Dr. John D. Loike and Rabbi Moshe D. Tendler. Insights from Jewish feminist bioethical criticism and other notable Jewish bioethical works enhance the analyses. Through a focused study of the redefinition of parenthood in Jewish law and bioethics, I demonstrate four ways in which advances in science impact Jewish law and ethics. One, scientific awareness leads to greater sophistication and nuance of analysis. Two, Jewish bioethicists grapple with religion and science relations, and speak directly to these overarching considerations. Three, the epistemological and axiological influence of religion and science relations correlate with greater openness to new technologies, theoretical conceptualizations, and their practical applications. Four, advances in science change Jewish legal and bioethical analyses and outcomes through (at least) four possible methodological mechanisms – namely, theoretic holism, innovative interpretation, indeterminate gaps, and realist realignment. Jewish bioethics are thus shown to illumine the intricate interrelationship between religion and science and its impact on Jewish law and ethics.

Questo studio prende spunto dallo scarto che, a causa di un diritto scritto non sempre al passo coi tempi, viene a crearsi tra la realtà sociale concretamente vissuta dalle famiglie create ricorrendo alla procreazione medicalmente assistita (PMA) e la loro totale o parziale (in)esistenza sul piano del diritto. Oltre ad accrescere le modalità di formare la propria famiglia, l’avvento della PMA ha comportato la frammentazione delle nozioni – un tempo, unitarie – di maternità e paternità, producendo quindi potenziale confusione sul versante della determinazione dello status filiationis del nato. A fronte di una pluralità di figure potenzialmente e/o fattualmente genitoriali, la responsabilità di ‘fare ordine’ e di rispondere alle diverse istanze e ai bisogni delle famiglie moderne è caduta sulle spalle dei giudici, i quali – almeno nel contesto europeo – hanno talvolta trovato fonte d’ispirazione nella giurisprudenza della Corte europea dei diritti umani. Spingendosi oltre i confini europei, il presente studio mira pertanto ad indagare il ruolo giocato dai giudici nazionali nel ‘fare da ponte’ tra diritto e società, portando alla luce le logiche, le tecniche e i principi che hanno guidato la loro opera di ricostruzione del diritto vigente.

An experiment was conducted for 12 weeks to investigate the anti-oxidative effect of carrot fruit extracts administered to rabbit bucks on growth, organ characteristics, gonadal and extra-gonadal sperm reserves, and daily sperm production. A total of 35 rabbit bucks (four months old with average weight of 1.62±0.2kg) were randomly allotted into treatment groups each containing seven bucks per replicate. The bucks were subjected to the same environmental conditions and were assigned into five doses of carrot fruit extracts administration: Treatment 1 (0 mL of carrot fruit extracts (CE)/kg BW i.e. control), treatment 2 (0.5 mL CE/kg BW), treatment 3 (1.0 mL CE/kg BW), treatment 4 (1.5 ml CE/kg BW), treatment 5 (2 mL CE/kg BW). The extract was administered by drenching using corn oil as the carrier. The bucks were weighed weekly to determine weight gain and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the trial, the bucks were sacrificed, dissected, organs removed and weighed. Testes and epidi...

Obesity is associated with a reduction in fertility treatment success and increased risks to mother and child. Therefore guidelines of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and  Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) suggest that a body mass index exceeding 35 kg/m2 should be an absolute contraindication to assisted fertility treatment such as in vitro fertilisation IVF. In this paper we challenge
the ethical and scientific basis for such a ban. Livebirth rates for severely
obese women are reduced by up to 30%, but this result is still far better than that observed for many older women who are allowed access to IVF. This prohibition is particularly unjust when IVF is the only treatment capable of producing a pregnancy, such as bilateral tubal blockage or severe male factor infertility. Furthermore, the absolute magnitude of risks to mother or child is relatively small, and while a woman has a right to be educated about these risks, she alone should be allowed to make a decision on proceeding with treatment. We do not prohibit adults from
engaging in dangerous sports, nor do we force parents to vaccinate their children, despite the risks. Similarly, we should not prohibit obese women from becoming parents because of increased risk to themselves or their child. Finally, prohibiting obese women’s access to IVF to prevent potential harms such as ‘fetal programing’ is questionable, especially when compared to that child never being born at all. As such, we believe the RANZCOG ban on severely obese women’s access to assisted reproductive treatment is unwarranted and should be revised.

How are non-conventional sexualities, family formations, parenting practices and reproductive choices and strategies localised within the context of contemporary Russian society, which recently shifted to a neo-traditionalist ideology? This roundtable discussion describes how, despite the Russian state’s orientation towards a neo-conservative ideology and promotion of the ‘traditional’ family, Russians challenge official norms in various ways.

This article has two objectives: the first, to analyze the professionalization process of assisted reproduction (AR) in order to see how AR is consolidating into an independent field within medicine, and the second, to see how AR arrived and was assimilated into Mexican culture. As opposed to other projects that have traced back the story of a particular specialty to see how it emerged as such, this article looks at an ongoing process: specialization in action. By analyzing the data collected through three years of multisited ethnography using tools offered by the sociology of professions and the history of medical specialization, I identify specific moments in which AR is gaining cognitive, normative, and evaluative consolidation, structure, and independence. This leads me to suggest that AR might separate from gynecology and become an independent specialty within medicine. I offer examples to support this argument and show how AR has developed into a biomedical service, a professional biomedical field, and a biomedical business.

Ver todos sus artículos ) PASADA LA MEDIANOCHE DEL 25 DE JULIO DE 1978 NACIÓ, EN MANCHESTER, INGLATERRA, LA PRIMERA PERSONA FECUNDADA CON REPRODUCCIÓN ASISTIDA. Nexos -La reproducción asistida en México http://www.nexos.com.mx/?P=leerarticulo&Article=21...

In only the second case dealing with posthumous conception in South Africa – Ex Parte SN – a woman approached the High Court seeking an urgent order allowing her to have sperm removed from the body of her comatose husband, so that she could use it for reproductive purposes after his death. This raised two separate legal issues: (i) whether gamete removal may occur where the person from whom the gametes are being removed is unable to consent; and (ii) whether gametes removed in this way could be used for posthumous conception. The court held that the woman was allowed to have the gametes removed, but did not engage with whether she could use them for posthumous reproduction. The court did not provide reasons, as this case was determined on an urgent basis. This article provides a background to this case, and analyses the main arguments surrounding each of these legal issues. It concludes that the law allows that a person who has the authority to give consent to health services on the comatose patient’s behalf may also give consent to gamete removal. However, whether these gametes may then be used for posthumous conception should be determined by a court, by balancing the various rights and legal interests at play. Three criteria that should guide a court’s determination in cases of posthumous conception are provided.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extensively report the implications of the global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population. The experiences of childless men are mostly absent from gerontological, psychological, reproduction, and sociological, research. These disciplines have mainly focussed on family formation and practices, whilst the fertility intentions, history, and experience of men have been overlooked. Not fulfilling the dominant social status of parenthood provides a significant challenge to both individual and cultural identity. Distress levels in both infertile men and women have been recorded as high as those with grave medical conditions. Design/methodology/approach The aim of this paper is to provide some insight into the affect involuntarily childless has on the lives of older men. This auto/biographical qualitative study used a pluralistic framework drawn from the biographical, feminist, gerontological, and life course approaches. Data were gathered from in-depth semi-structured biographical interviews with 14 self-defined involuntary men aged between 49 and 82 years from across the UK. A broad thematic analysis highlighted the complex intersections between involuntary childlessness and agency, biology, relationships, and socio-cultural structures. Findings Diverse elements affected the men’s involuntary childlessness: upbringing, economics, timing of events, interpersonal skills, sexual orientation, partner selection, relationship formation and dissolution, bereavement, and the assumption of fertility. The importance of relationship quality was highlighted for all the men: with and without partners. Quality of life was affected by health, relationships, and social networks. Awareness of “outsiderness” and a fear of being viewed a paedophile were widely reported. Research limitations/implications This is a study based on a small self-selecting “fortuitous” sample. Consequently care should be taken in applying the findings to the wider population. Originality/value Health and social care policy, practice and research have tended to focus on family and women. The ageing childless are absent and excluded from policy, practice, and research. Recognition of those ageing without children or family is urgent given that it is predicted that there will be over two million childless people aged 65 and over by 2030 (approximately 25 per cent of the 65 and over population). The consequences for health and social care of individuals and organisations are catastrophic if this does not happen.

Before there is sexual orientation there is sex. And lesbians, as a class of women have been right to point out that men—gay and straight—still benefit from a patriarchal society.  Lesbians remain more vulnerable to misogyny, underemployment, discrimination, sexism, and a lack of social representation. Sexual orientation cannot be separated from patriarchy, privilege, and dominance. It is precisely these differences, which Doris Leibetseder has so incisively pointed out.  These are inequalities are compounded when speaking of access to medical reproduction. 

Theorists writing about the biological children of gay people—as a blanket term for both gay men and lesbian women—often gloss over these facts.  It is sloppy conceptual work to place gay men and gay women together when discussing LGBT/ Queer bioethics, yet this is often done for expediency. This paper will explore medical reproduction as a case study in LGBT/ Queer bioethics emphasizing that the homosexual experience—physically, socially, economically, emotionally, and politically—is not homogenous. Bioethicists must clearly define whose interests are at stake when advancing LGBT/ Queer bioethics and ensure that lesbians, and other queer women, are not disadvantaged.

Among all human practices, procreation seems the most paradoxical. It starts as a fully personal choice and ends with the creation of a new subject of rights and responsibilities. Advances in reproductive genetics pose new ethical and legal questions. They are expected to prevent the transmission of genetic diseases to progeny and also to improve genetically-endowed mental and physical attributes. Genetic selection and enhancement may affect a child’s identity, as well as the parent-child relationship. The authors are committed to a pluralistic approach that captures all aspects of this relationship in terms of moral virtues and principles. They elucidate that most of the conflicts between parental preferences and a child’s rights could be resolved with reference to the meaning and nature of procreation.

This paper discusses some of the major themes contained in the position paper La maternità surrogata: profili etici (Surrogate Pregnancy: Ethical Profiles) drafted by the Ethics Committee of the Fondazione Veronesi. In particular, the text highlights the ethical and legal path that ties the freedom of reproductive choices both to the individual right of self-determination and to the related right of benefitting from scientific progress. Building on the view articulated in the position paper, the text argues in favor of recognizing the right to access to surrogate gestation within the Italian context.
Il testo analizza il Parere La maternità surrogata: profili etici, redatto dal Comitato Etico della Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, mettendo in risalto il percorso etico e giuridico che lega la libertà delle scelte riproduttive al diritto all'autodeterminazione della persona e al correlato diritto al godimento dei benefici del progresso scientifico, auspicando che la gestazione per altre/i possa diventare accessibile anche in Italia.

Brown Bodies, White Babies examines surrogacy as a location that reveals the cultural and political context in which traditional notions of family and race are shored up, and potentially disruptive social phenomenon are reabsorbed into the hegemonic norm. What I term “cross-racial gestational surrogacy”—when a surrogate carries a pregnancy for intended parents of a different race—demonstrates how boundaries of likeness and difference are drawn and negotiated. . Surrogacy is an example of a social practice that has the potential to destabilize hegemonic ideologies, yet is recast through popular, medical, and legal discourse as a means to uphold traditional social constructs. Through an analysis of surrogacy, I unpack the ideological work that is done socially, politically, and legally to draw distinct boundaries around very limited definitions of “family,” “kinship,” and “mother,” and which reifies races into biologically distinct, genetically based categories.

growth in the surrogacy market has been rapid and widespread, the Indian government has struggled to regulate it as a business, a medical practice, and for the protection of surrogates. After nearly a decade of proposed draft bills, the government has yet to enact comprehensive regulation. It is now clear that the state will not ban such a lucrative source of income. Scholars of surrogacy have begun to take note of the Indian market. In the United States, where surrogacy has provoked debate and theorizing among feminists, scholars are increasingly interpreting the meaning and the effects of surrogacy in other countries using theories developed from the experience with surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the United States. Despite the academic discourse, no proposals for regulation of Indian surrogacy have been forthcoming. The discussions remain theoretical and decontextualized with Indian surrogacy described with generalizations and media-driven stereotypes. Mor...

In der vorliegenden Arbeit, die sich auf Deutschland, Österreich und Italien iVm der Judikatur des EGMR konzentriert, möchte man beleuchten, inwieweit und in welche Richtungen die Rechtsprechung Bezug auf Kindeswohlerwägungen nimmt, um die ihr vorgelegten Fällen zu entscheiden.
Nach einem einführenden Teil, der sich hauptsächlich mit der verwendeten Terminologie und der derzeitigen Rechtslage beschäftigt, werden die wichtigsten in die Thematik involvierten Rechtsinteressen grob skizziert. Anschließend wird dargestellt, wie die jüngste Rechtsprechung der drei analysierten Länder und des EGMR dazu tendiert, das Kindeswohl bzw das Wohl des jeweiligen Kindes als ausschlaggebendes Argument zu verwenden. Diese Forschungsergebnisse werden dann einer kritischen Analyse unterzogen. Die Arbeit wird mit einigen Gedanken de jure condendo abgeschlossen.

Modern assisted reproduction technologies (ART), by gradually enlarging the boundaries of the ‘scientifically possible’ in the field of reproduction, have offered more avenues to increase the possibility of anyone to become a parent and rear children and allowed a ‘reproductive revolution’ (Robertson 1994: 6). This ‘new reproduction’, based on technology, allows for the separation of genetic and gestational motherhood, while social developments permit the separation of the first two from the social and legal parenting. Thus, talking about reproduction today one necessarily includes Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR). Starting from the premises that engaging in reproductive intercourse in the classical way used to be considered as a fundamental right, the legal question posed nowadays is whether this right, reproductive autonomy, also includes MAR, i.e. non-coital or collaborative reproduction (that is, with the participation of a gamete donor or gestator who is not one's spouse) through ART. An initial question is the one focusing on the legitimate grounding of such an extension of the right to reproduce in an ethical sense.
This paper offers a discussion on this theme; it tries to explore the question whether there is a constitutionally –at a national, European or global level- entrenched right of access to ART and focuses on the access to infertility treatment from a subject point of view, thus of the prospective or potential parents rather than the ‘best interest’ of the child. This methodological pre-choice is due, firstly, to the belief that there is no objective point of knowledge to stand on in order to judge the ‘best interest’ of an unborn child, if one excludes the intended physical exploitation. Secondly, even if a competent authority was to specify the minimum requirements for a decent life of the child-to-be-born, the state would still need to justify why it sets such standards to private actors when reproduction is collaborative, involving a doctor or other reproductive technicians, donors and surrogates, and not when the collaboration stays between two heterosexual persons having sexual intercourse which leads to pregnancy and birth. Deviations are possible but need to be justified, if one does not want to undermine the consistency of legal regulation and thus the principle of equal treatment of similar situations as well as the principle of neutrality of the state towards different ways of life, in other words liberalism in its classical sense.

Ta en oiko mi en dimo is a popular Greek proverb meaning that whatever happens at household [ oikos] should not be exposed into public [ dimos]. In the Greek cultural context sexuality, reproduction, family relations belong to the realm of private domesticity. In this paper we trace the way women and men in Greece resituate themselves towards their reproductive desires and decisions, towards medicalized reproduction and towards each other, when in the context of involuntary childlessness, infertility and ART use, reproduction moves outside the body and the private sphere of the household and becomes part of the public sphere exemplified in state laws, doctor's decisions, hospital laboratories, IVF forums. Drawing from the research project (In)FERCIT and based on 130 semi-structured interviews of both women and men the paper explores the shifts related to parenting, the imagining and making of a family, the couple, in the context of neoliberal reproductive potentialities. Which relationships and practices change through the ongoing challenges of infertility and the experience of ART? What is kept within the couple and what is shared with others (family members, friends, strangers, experts)? What is the significance of reproductive socialities in managing the demands of infertility within an ever-increasing intensification of parenthood? How does this challenging context reinforces or weakens the couple's relationship, their reproductive agency and desire? Finally we explore how proper parenthood but also proper partnerhood are constructed in Greece following local demands regarding family making and localized medicalization of reproduction. Research Themes and Methodology In the introductory chapter of his book The Reinvention of Primitive Society Transformations of a Myth, an anthropological study of kinship, Adam Kuper (2005) argues that specific ideas and topics in anthropology have the tendency to reappear through the years disguised in different theories and maintains that transformations allow the same topics to circulate. Research on parenthood and especially motherhood, a resilient topic of interest for the first and second generation of Greek ethnographers, re-emerged at the beginning of the 21 century. Both are reexamined beyond the 'domestic model of gender' and in a broad used as central concepts for the investigation of topics such as ethnicity, the state, the law, demography, medical practices and new reproduction technologies. The paper follows this body of work in Greece as well as anthropological literature on reproduction, parenthood and family drawing from the research project

Feminist geographers have criticized affective and non-representational geographies for not taking into account social differences. This paper brings feminist accounts of emotion and affect into dialogue with affective and non-representational geographies in order to develop a feminist more-than-representational geography. In a first step, three shared commitments of a non-representational research agenda are presented: (1) a focus on everyday practices and the body, (2) a focus on the unconsciousness, and (3) affect as a more-than-human force. In a second step, I summarize feminist geographies‘ critiques of non-representational geographies. Drawing on an ongoing research project on the transnational market of surrogacy, I then discuss the benefits and challenges of a more-than-representational agenda for geographical research.

Assisted reproductive technologies allow women to sell the service of gestating a fetus, but maintain little or no claim to the product of that labor: the child itself. In the context of transnational Indian surrogacy, this situation is exacerbated by the physical and cultural distance between intended parents and surrogates. The productive nature of the care and nurturing provided through the work of mothering becomes more visible when viewed though the commodification of commercial surrogacy. Once commodified, this work of care also becomes subject to the alienation of capitalist relations, which invites us to investigate the social and economic implications of the work of mothering in surrogacy. I argue that care and nurture in transnational Indian surrogacy invest human vital energy as a form of value directly into other human beings, through the biological and affective labor involved in surrogate work, thereby supporting the lives of those individuals, families and societies that consume this energy.

Scholars have long debated the relationship between morality and the market. Some argue that morality tempers market interests, while others argue that the market has its own moral order. Meanwhile, feminist scholars have argued that a false binary between altruism, family, and intimacy on the one hand, and the cold calculus of the market on the other, is based in gender ideologies. Norms around motherhood, in particular, emphasize self-sacrifice, love, and altruism in opposition to self-interested market logics. Commercial surrogacy blurs the line between family and
commerce and is therefore an ideal setting for studying tensions between altruism and profit. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with 114 actors in
the Mexican surrogacy industry, I demonstrate that treating altruism and commercialism as dichotomous can further market interests by preserving the moral palatability and profitability of the industry while perpetuating power asymmetries rooted in gender, race, class, and nationality between surrogate mothers and intended parents.

Anais do X Congresso Brasileiro de Direito de Família -FAMÍLIAS NOSSAS DE CADA DIA

Sumário: 1. Introdução. 2. Os beneficiários das técnicas
de RA no Brasil. 3. Limites e exceções. 4. A maternidade
de substituição. 5. Contratos de geração de filhos. 6. O
problema dos embriões excedentários. 7. Considerações
finais. 8. Referências.

Unimaginable until the twentieth century, the clinical practice of transferring eggs and sperm from body to body is now the basis of a bustling market. In Sex Cells, Rene Almeling provides an inside look at how egg agencies and sperm banks do business. Although both men and women are usually drawn to donation for financial reasons, Almeling finds that clinics encourage sperm donors to think of the payments as remuneration for an easy "job." Women receive more money but are urged to regard egg donation in feminine terms, as the ultimate "gift" from one woman to another. Sex Cells shows how the gendered framing of paid donation, as either a job or a gift, not only influences the structure of the market, but also profoundly affects the individuals whose genetic material is being purchased.

International commercial surrogacy (ICS) is a growing phenomenon in which the dynamics of global economic inequality between women are often reproduced in the effort to produce children. ICS, in which a commissioning parent(s) goes abroad to hire a surrogate mother to carry a child for them, confounds a number of 'feminist' interpretations and evaluations of the practice: while some believe it provides poor women with an opportunity to use their bodies to increase their wealth while providing a service, others see it as outsourcing reproduction through economic exploitation of surrogate mothers. ICS thus raises interesting questions not only about the commodi-fication of bodies – women's and children's – but the naturalisation of the woman– child dyad premised on the notion of motherhood. With new assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as trans-border gestational surrogacy, successful physical reproduction in the form of giving birth to a child is actually a severing link between the surrogate mother who gives birth and the child, who is not genetically linked to the surrogate mother. Surrogacy thus challenges the 'natural' equation of woman/ child with mother/ child, shifting those relations through financial transaction. Moreover, 'the best interests of the child' are often invoked in ICS arrangements to defend political positions that tend to reify the 'natural' genetic family – construed as heteronormative and patriarchal. The best-interest principle of children's rights also highlights the lack of consideration for the actual politics of childhood in surrogacy...

Il diritto italiano non può più evitare di affrontare il tema della genitorialità in relazione all'orientamento sessuale e all'identità di genere. Questo volume vuole affrontarlo nella sua complessità e presentare per la prima volta una compiuta analisi dei suoi profili giuridici. Muovendo dalla riflessione già maturata in altri ambiti scientifici, gli autori s'interrogano sulla tutela che l'ordinamento italiano offre alle famiglie in cui almeno uno dei genitori è una persona omosessuale o trans. Giudici, accademici e amministratori sono infatti chiamati sempre più frequentemente a risolvere le questioni che le famiglie omogenitoriali pongono. La dimensione europea e le esperienze di altri Stati offrono spunti per riflettere, capire e decidere. Questo volume non si ferma davanti al dato positivo e allo status quo, ma guarda oltre, nella prospettiva di un sistema giuridico che coglie le sfide di modelli di famiglia che mutano nella costanza del valore che rappresentano.

The article offers the authors' views on finding books with characters who were the product of donor sperm in libraries the U.S. The authors cite that they have not found the book in the Library of Congress (LC) due to the inconsistencies of cataloging in LC. They state that finding these books are important due to the added challenges for parents to explain to their child that he/she was created with the assistance of a third party. Overview on the list of books for children conceived through sperm donation, egg donation, and embryo donation are offered.

Taming egg donors is a multi-sited ethnography of the egg donation industry in Spain. It elaborates the politics of decision-making, information, risk perception, labour, and selection that operate in the Spanish context. In this thesis, I delineate the multilevel processes in place to ultimately achieve the stabilisation of bodies and eggs for their entry into the global bio-market circuits. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Barcelona, I draw on the point of view and experience of both egg donors and clinicians. This polyvocal approach reveals the needs, struggles, and expectations of the participants involved and how they are orchestrated to produce the egg donation bioeconomy. The main argument of this thesis is that egg donation is a fragile process that needs careful methods of containment to effectively work. It is fragile in the sense that the process can fail at any point: the donor might not follow the rules properly; the drugs might not generate the expected effect; the risks cannot always be contained; the extracted eggs might not be mature enough; or the children born might not meet the expected health standards. I argue that these methods for containing women, which I describe as a process of taming, operate both at the structural level — where institutional discourses, socio-economic factors, and regulations converge — and at the micro level of clinical practices — through the building of particular relationships between clinicians, donors, and their bodies. First, I argue that the rationalities of becoming an egg donor are intimately linked with the precarious Spanish labour market, which makes egg donation an activity that is very similar to having a job for young women. Second, I show how the combination of the legal framework of egg donation as altruistic and anonymous and the information delivery practices in fertility clinics produce particular sociotechnical imaginaries among egg donors that ultimately prevent debates on reproductive justice. Third, I contend that fertility clinics have taming methods in place to assure that egg donors will make it until the end of the process. These techniques happen at the level of the selection and management of donors and attempt to contain behavioural problems and bodily misbalances. Fourth, I describe how clinics precariously attempt to stabilise donors’ genetic and ethnoracial pasts in objectifiable categories, a process that reveals key aspects of how health and race operate in the fertility industry. Finally, I contend that all these efforts reveal clinicians’ imaginaries, struggles, and anxieties in relation to the perceived stressful job of dealing with egg donors. Their uneasy presence in fertility clinics is highlighted by the sociotechnical imaginaries of clinicians about future of assisted reproduction, in which egg donors are expected to ‘disappear’ thanks to forthcoming technoscientific innovations. Through these arguments, thus, I analyse how the Spanish egg donation industry is orchestrated to contain women’s imaginaries, bodies, biographies, and eggs so that they can be converted and travel across the global bio-market circuits. In doing so, this dissertation contributes to scholarship on tissue economies, reproductive labour, sociotechnical imaginaries, and Spanish extractive industries.

Background: L-carnitine (LC), and its acetylated form, acetyl L-carnitine (ALC), have immense functional capabilities to regulate the oxidative and metabolic status of the female reproductive system. The vulnerability of this system to free radicals demand for advanced strategies to combat them. For this purpose, the 'quasi vitamins' LC and ALC can be used either individually, or in combination with each other or with other antioxidants.