In Vitro Futures: an Anthropological Study of Embryo Adoption between Canada and Spain

In Vitro Futures is a critical and innovative anthropological analysis of embryo adoption from a transnational, multi-sited and comparative perspective between Canada and Spain. The project is built around 3 fundamental, yet unanswered research questions: RQ1.

From a comparative point of view, what narratives exist behind embryos adoption and how are these meanings and practices shaped or promoted by social determinants such as nationality/country, bio-political institutions, gender/sexuality, and class? RQ2. How do clinics and fertility specialists influence embryos adoption practices?

RQ3. How is biological relatedness referred to by embryo donors and embryo receivers in Canada and Spain?

The research aims will be reached through 3 Research Objectives (ROs), corresponding to the 3 research questions outlined above. RO1. Biomedical Issues, Moral Discourses, Salvific Logics.

In the current framework of embryos adoption management RO1 will explore and study how medical actions contribute to construct a specific narrative relating to the extra embryos. RO2.

To identify how these meanings and practices are coerced or promoted by social determinants such as nationality/country, bio-political institutions, gender-sexuality, class, race, in the presence or absence of a regulatory framework, this research requires the comparison between the two cases: embryo adoption in Spain and in Canada.

RO3. Relatedness in Embryo Adoption Programs.

RO3 will examine empirically the meanings and practices of family relatedness in the transition to parenthood of families created through this practice.

My hypothesis is that the ways in which the embryos are represented and the impact of absence/presence of a law on embryo donation may have significant implications for decision-making around the fate of spare embryos.