ANTH202

Families and Households

NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND
SAME SEX FAMILIES

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 Key concepts
• New reproductive technologies (NRT’s)
• Surrogacy
• In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
• Artificial Insemination (AI)
• Motherhood
• Double Motherhood
• Same-Sex Marriages/Families

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New Reproductive Technologies (NRT’s)/ Assisted
Reproductive Technologies (ART’s)

• NRT/ART was initially born out of a desire to assist

individuals to overcome infertility
• Today NRT/ART can be used not only to eliminate
infertility, but also for purposes of embryo research
and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
• It refers to technologies that intervene in the
biological act of procreation. It can facilitate , prevent
or intervene in the process of reproduction including
birthing, contraception, abortion and antenatal
testing

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 Cont..
• NRT/ART has been classified into three main categories :

1. Management technologies- includes the management of pre-pregnancy

, pregnancy and birth

2. Contraceptive technologies – which can be non-interventionist like

diaphragm or condom , or involves the use of hormone suppressants , intra-
uterine devices and sterilization( for men it is called “vasectomy” and for
female it is called “ tubal sterilization” )

3. Conceptive technologies – including artificial insemination, surrogacy,

fertility drugs, embryo donation and in-vitro fertilization

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 NRT’s/ART’s
• There are three common types of NRT’s/ART’s :
– Surrogacy
– In-Vitro Fertilization
– Artificial Insemination

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 Infertility
• Infertility- According to Vander Borght and Wyns (2018),
infertility is a disease which is characterised by an inability to
fall pregnant after 12 months of regular and unprotected
sexual intercourse. Botes and Fourie (2019) define infertility
as the inability to fall pregnant or sustain a successful
pregnancy; a woman who has had miscarriages would also
be regarded as infertile
• Infertility has negative effects on women such as being
ridiculed and excluded from social activities ,verbal abuse,
discrimination and humiliation from family members and
relatives

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 Surrogacy

• Surrogacy is an arrangement
whereby a woman agrees to
become pregnant and deliver a
child for a contracted party
• This may be done to overcome
infertility because it gives couples
and single parents a method of
conceiving a child with genetic
connections to their family
• The types of surrogacy includes
not limited to, gestational and
traditional surrogacy

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 Surrogacy
• Gestational surrogacy is an arrangement that utilises in
vitro fertilisation to fertilise an egg; which usually belongs to
the commissioning woman; outside of the surrogate mother’s
body whereafter the fertilised egg is then implanted in the
surrogate mother’s uterus
• The expected child will not be related to the surrogate
biologically
• The embryo is actually formed by using both the biological
father’s sperm and the biological mother’s egg through IVF
• This type of surrogacy is also known as full surrogacy

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 Surrogacy
• In the case of traditional surrogacy, the surrogate
mother provides the egg and carries the baby
• The surrogate is artificially inseminated with the
sperm of the commissioning husband or that of a
donor
• This is also known as partial surrogacy
• The surrogate is also the biological mother of the
child

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In-Vitro Fertilization

• In vitro fertilization: series of

complex procedures to assist with
fertility and conception of a child.
Mature eggs from ovaries are
collected and fertilized by sperm in a
lab environment
• In the case of male infertility,
intracytoplasmic sperm injections
(ICSI) may be employed, which
means that sperm are injected
directly into the egg
• IVF may include the use of donated
sperm, oocytes, and embryos

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Artificial Insemination

• Artificial Insemination: fertility

treatment method used to
deliver sperm directly to the
cervix, fallopian tubes or
uterus in the hopes of getting
pregnant
• There are two types of AI :
o Homologous artificial
insemination (AIH)
o heterologous artificial
insemination (AID)

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 Artificial Insemination
• Homologous- It’s when the semen is obtained from
the husband of the woman whose ovum is fertilized
• Heterologous- It occurs when the semen is acquired
from a donor
• In both cases ( Homologous and Heterologous),
semen is obtained by means of masturbation

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 Redefining Motherhood
• Motherhood, is often considered the ‘basis of all
kinship’. The ‘mother and child couple’ are seen as
the ‘‘unique and irreducible source of all existence’’
• The mother – child tie is described as inevitable, and
the basic unit of all kinship systems
• In most cultures, children’s kin are determined solely
through their parents. NRTs however, have created a
division in the previously assumed understanding of
a ‘natural’ motherhood

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 Redefining Motherhood
• NRTs have therefore deconstructed ‘motherhood’ as a unified
biological process, resulting in uncertainty about what
motherhood itself means – it can no longer be a taken for
granted process
• The mother’s nurturing role shifts from being seen as part of
a total biological process to being the principal attribute of a
social process (Strathern, 1992)
• Some would argue that unless a totally natural process, from
conception to birth, this ‘‘represents the degradation of
motherhood itself’’ (Stanworth,1987)

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Double Motherhood
• Further subversion of the concept of family
arises because of NRT, where ‘double
motherhood’ becomes possible
• For example, both women in a lesbian couple
could be impregnated by the same father
through artificial insemination (so both women
can be fertilized by the same man – this would
ensure that their children have the same
biological father)
• Or if the sperm of one woman’s brother were
used, both women would have a genetic
relationship as well as a kinship relationship to
the child
• This concept of double motherhood challenges
the belief that procreation is not possible in gay
relationships, for through NRTs, a woman can
give birth to the genetic child of her female
partner (she is biologically giving birth to her
female partner’s child – it’s the process that has
changed)

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Same-sex marriage

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 Same-sex marriage
• Historically, the primary purpose of marriage has been
to bear and raise children
• Responsible procreation is at the heart of society’s
interest in regulating marriage
• Same-sex marriage is between two persons of
the same biological sex or gender identity
• Same-sex marriage is legally performed and
recognized in 29 countries including South Africa

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 Same-Sex Families
• A same-sex family is a homosexual couple living
together with children
• Same sex families, and voluntary childless couples
(childfree couples) are becoming increasingly
common

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 Questions

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