Doctoral Dissertation Research: Anticipating Infertility: The Emergence of a Medical Market for Fertility Preservation

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates the social meaning and implications of fertility preservation as a new medical intervention directed at healthy women. Egg freezing, the foremost fertility preservation technology, extends the reproductive life span by preserving a woman's fertility beyond the limits of her reproductive years. Rather than treat the condition of infertility in women, egg freezing anticipates age-related infertility in otherwise healthy women of reproductive age. Techniques such as egg freezing are now being developed and marketed as a potential reconciliation of motherhood and professional work by adjusting women's reproductive timelines to synchronize with career trajectories. While egg freezing appears to give women more control over their lives by altering the timing of reproduction, it does so in a social context that emphasizes motherhood and where the conditions of professional work often create irreconcilable time conflicts between career advancement and family formation. Such new technologies also appear in a medical context that promotes health and the prevention of illness through invasive biomedical interventions. This project examines this tension at the crux of debates regarding, on the one hand, claims about women's expanding agency, and on the other, the persistent messaging suggesting motherhood as essential to their identity. Findings from this project will inform the medical and public health professions, particularly in the field of reproductive medicine, regarding their work using new technologies. In addition, this project will be useful to policy-makers concerned with eligibility for and accessibility to egg freezing by providing insight into women's motivations, experiences, and perspectives on fertility preservation strategies. Findings will also inform societal conversations regarding the complex relationships between fertility preservation, gender inequality in the workplace and the issue of work-family conflict. This dissertation employs a qualitative mixed-methods design to address two research questions. First, the project will examine articles published in clinical journals in the field of reproductive medicine, popular women's and business magazines, and newspapers since 1980 to trace how professional and media claims have helped establish egg freezing as an elective, social or lifestyle choice, thus extending to a new population technologies originally developed for women with compromised fertility due to illness or other medical issues. Second, the project will conduct ethnographic observation at educational and marketing events aimed at promoting fertility preservation. Third, the project will conduct 80 in-depth, qualitative interviews with experts in the field of reproductive medicine, women who use egg freezing, and a range of actors who promote fertility preservation techniques in three United States cities that are major destinations for fertility services. The project will analyze all data using both open and structured coding. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories related to gender, family, and the workplace, particularly those theories concerning work-family conflict and women's life course in the 21st century. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.