Browsing by Author "Herbrand, C."
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Item Open Access Co-parenting arrangements in lesbian and gay families: when the ‘mum and dad’ ideal generates innovative family forms(Policy Press, 2017-03-16) Herbrand, C.This paper engages with current debates on the potential of contemporary family formations, particularly those created by lesbian women and gay men, to challenge hegemonic family models. Drawing on in-depth interviews with lesbian and gay individuals living in Belgium, it explores parental ideals and family practices amongst people actively choosing ‘co-parenting arrangements’ which include more than two adults raising a child. It examines how this route to parenthood was justified by co-parents’ desire for a biological child, to experience pregnancy, to know the child’s background and most importantly, to provide the child with a mother and a father. These motivations not only aimed at normalising their family situation but reflected deeply anchored family values. The paper demonstrates how innovative and reflexive family forms can arise from conventionally-based assumptions regarding gender roles and kinship, and calls therefore for a more nuanced consideration of individual values and intentions in parenting which potentially destabilise the hegemonic family model.Item Metadata only A comparative analysis of marketing materials used to recruit egg donors in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom (Poster).(2018-07) Culley, Lorraine; Hudson, Nicky; Coveney, C.; Herbrand, C.; Lafuente, S.; Pavone, V.; Pennings, G.Study question: How is egg donation framed in clinic marketing material used to recruit and/or inform potential egg donors in (Dutch speaking) Belgium, Spain and the UK? Summary answer: In Belgium, egg donation (ED) was constructed as an engagement that required considerable investment and entailed clear risks in contrast to Spain and the UK. What is known already: Across Europe, ED recruitment is performed in different ways. Some countries permit a range of advertising methods while others limit or completely prohibit any form of advertising relating to human bodily material (e.g. Belgium). Much of the existing research on recruitment of gamete donors comes from the US where market forces shape practice more directly. This paper focusses on Belgium, Spain and the UK – three countries that hold a stake in the growing global reproductive bio-economy and share features of technological innovation and expertise, but have adopted different regulatory positions in relation to the governance and marketing of ED. Study design, size, duration: An interdisciplinary team of researchers (bioethics, political economy, sociology) conducted a content analysis (including high frequency words analysis) as well as a comparative thematic analysis to consider ‘framing’ of egg donation in the data. Interdisciplinary auditing was used to challenge constructed categories and the conceptual framework at several points in the analysis. The findings were compared with country laws and informed consent rules and the implications for informed consent were studied. Participants: In Belgium, all Dutch language websites of centres were included compared to around 20 clinic websites in both Spain and the UK. For the latter countries, maximum variation sampling was used taking into account geographical location, number of cycles, and sector (public/private). In Belgium, ED is almost entirely situated in the publicly funded system whereas in Spain and the UK it is mainly performed in the private sector. Main results and the role of chance: In all three countries, ED recipients were presented as women whose fertility problems were no fault of their own, constructing a clear need for the donor to fulfil. Descriptions of medical profiles included ‘early menopause’ while natural menopause was absent. With regard to the act of donating, in Spain and the UK, words such as ‘sharing’, and ‘helping’ were considerably more frequently used compared to the Belgian data. Especially in Spain, ED was constructed as a form of solidarity between women nonetheless with a clear emphasis on the compensation. In Belgium, where clinic advertising is strictly regulated, ED was presented as requiring a considerable investment of time and energy from the donor. Potential egg donors in Belgium were repeatedly warned that the act was ‘not straightforward’ and ‘something to reflect about very carefully’. The Belgian material also appeared to be more focussed on risks and side effects than the Spain and UK material. The data were analysed within the policy context of the countries. We will discuss the possible impact of the public/private sector setting and of the Belgian ban on advertising for the way ED is framed and the implications of the differences in marketing material for informed consent. Limitations, reasons for caution: The results are limited to three countries, and to a (well considered) selection of clinics, therefore precluding generalisation to whole countries. Further research will be needed on the effects of recruitment discourses on potential donors in order to generate more general conclusions and recommendations. Wider implications of the findings: These results can contribute to a more complete understanding of the recruitment of egg donors as a practice that depends on specific discourses and is embedded in particular policy contexts. The identification of problematic framing of marketing material is crucial in terms of safeguarding true informed consent of donors.Item Open Access Egg providers' views on the use of surplus eggs in the UK, Spain and Belgium: implications for information giving and informed consent (POSTER)(2019-06) Hudson, Nicky; Culley, Lorraine; Herbrand, C.; Weis, Christina; Coveney, C.; Goethals, T.; Lafuente, S.; Pavone, V.; Pennings, G.; Provoost, V.Item Open Access Gender, kinship and assisted reproductive technologies: future directions after 30 years of research(Enfances, Familles et Générations, 2014) Herbrand, C.; Courduriès, JérômeThis volume of Enfances Familles Générations (Childhood Families Generations) looks at the current issues raised by the advent and proliferation of assisted reproductive tech-nologies with a particular focus on kinship and gender. In the contemporary globalised world, a range of reproductive possibilities are now available, many of which raise im-portant socio-anthropological questions related to the balance of power inherent in such interactions, the different practices and regulations involved in the delivery of ART and the individual and cultural significance of these practices. These issues have generated a rich and extensive body of literature over the past thirty years, particularly in English language scholarship. This introductory paper provides a reminder of these debates and seeks to foster dialogue with respect to work across different disciplines, by underscoring their respective contributions, particularly those in English- and French-language litera-ture. Beginning with the summarizing of the major issues and contributions stemming from ART studies with respect to gender and parenthood, we shall underline the issues that are yet to be resolved and that, in our opinion, warrant further investigation. The main line of our argument is that, based on available literature and on social science re-search, emphasis must be placed on gender as inextricably linked to the experience and the study of assisted reproductive technologies.Item Metadata only Genetics, heritability and family histories: materialising the healthy egg donor in clinical screening practices(2018-07) Hudson, Nicky; Coveney, C.; Herbrand, C.Media reporting of a small number of high profile cases in which serious genetic conditions have been inadvertently passed from donor to offspring serve to generate ideas about the potential for genetic risk in donor conception. Current guidance in the European context suggests that egg donors should have no known serious genetic conditions in their family history and additional screening should only be offered where additional risk factors, such as those associated with particular ethnicities, exist. More recently, expanded carrier screening tools are being used routinely in some contexts to identify carriers of recessive conditions amongst all prospective donors. These changes appear to mark a move towards the expansion of genetic testing for donors. Our paper explores how a variety of techniques, which offer to screen for risk of genetic disease, are framed as promissory strategies in the use of egg donation. Drawing on data from an ESRC-funded study on egg donation in the UK, Belgium and Spain, it considers how professional and policy rationalities, screening tools and the knowledges they produce, materialise a particular construction of the idealised, healthy donor who is free from genetic illness and risk. We consider whether these tools may be part of a set of increasingly commercialised choreographies within egg donation in Europe.Item Metadata only Gifting, sharing, donating, helping: tracing discourses of altruism and medical need in clinics' recruitment of egg providers(2018-09) Hudson, Nicky; Culley, Lorraine; Coveney, C.; Lafuente, S.; Herbrand, C.; Provoost, V.; Pavone, V.; Pennings, G.Fertility treatment using donor eggs is a growing phenomenon, with over 40,000 cycles performed across Europe per year. European regulations stipulate that in advertising for women to come forward as egg providers, promotional materials must uphold the principles of voluntary and unpaid donation (VUD). This is interpreted differently between countries with some permitting a range of advertising methods and others limiting or prohibiting any form of advertising relating to human bodily material. This paper examines how egg donation is framed in fertility clinic marketing and recruitment discourse as a particular form of bodily donation associated with the treatment of infertility. It draws on a sample of 58 fertility clinic websites across the UK, Belgium and Spain and analysed using a combination of content analysis and frame analysis. We examine the ways in which clinic marketing materials present a particular version of what egg donation involves and an image of the type of woman who acts as an egg donor. We suggest that clinic websites are important cultural spaces that manage the tensions of the market and the logics of altruism within the European context. We illustrate how the promissory potential of donor eggs and associated ‘cure narratives’ are drawn from a distinctly biomedicalised and individualised imaginary which renders egg provision as a noble and socially essential action. In this way egg donation can be framed as a culturally valued practice that should be separated from the logics of the market.Item Open Access Ideals, negotiations and gender roles in gay and lesbian co-parenting arrangements(Taylor and Francis, 2019-01-28) Herbrand, C.This paper engages with the complex gender and parental dynamics experienced in the context of co-parenting arrangements. These arrangements, based on mutual agreement, involve people who commit to raising a child together, possibly with their respective partners. These family forms are usually pursued to avoid what is perceived as the uncertainty surrounding alternative assisted reproductive options such as donor insemination or surrogacy, and to allow the child to have two biological and sexually differentiated parental figures. This paper explores some of the opportunities and challenges presented by co-parenting by focusing on the experiences and accounts of lesbian women and gay men engaged in such family arrangements. Drawing on work by social theorists of the family, the main characteristics of these arrangements are first examined to show that while co-parenting might first seem marginal, it appears particularly well adapted to contemporary social constraints and parenting expectations. The second part of the paper shows how in practice, dominant gender norms remain largely unquestioned and can lead to tensions and unbalanced parental power relationships between biological parents, which in turn, can present a significant challenge to these family arrangements. The analysis therefore suggests that while co-parenting offers the potential for parents to reconcile contradictory social expectations and provide them with opportunities to create family practices that suit them, these are restrained by existing gender norms, in particular by the prevailing role of the biological mother.Item Embargo Information sharing in donor conception: comparing regulations, ethics and cultural practices in the UK and Belgium(Paris Legal Publishers, 2015-07-03) Hudson, Nicky; Herbrand, C.Within the context of donor conception, the significance of knowing about one’s genetic origins and the moral and legal status of this information has been the subject of on-going and vociferous debate in a number of Western countries. Ten years on from the removal of donor anonymity in the UK, this paper considers the significance of donor identification law and its relationship to social practices in the UK and Belgium. Despite a similar liberal attitude towards medically assisted reproduction, the UK and Belgium have adopted significantly divergent measures on the issue of donor anonymity. In this paper we describe these regulatory differences and consider the perceptions and experiences of donor identification in each country by contrasting the findings of studies relating to donor conception. We conclude by arguing that greater attention should be given to the complex interplay between legal frameworks and social practices relating to gamete donation and highlight the need for more detailed future research to inform policy-making in assisted reproduction.Item Metadata only Investigating the cultural, political and moral framing of egg donation: an interdisciplinary study of the UK, Belgium and Spain.(2017-09) Hudson, Nicky; Culley, Lorraine; Coveney, C.; Herbrand, C.; Pavone, V.; Pennings, P.; Provoost, V.Donated eggs are now used in over 25,000 IVF treatment cycles in Europe, creating over 7000 babies per year yet evidence about the motivation, decision making and experiences of women who provide eggs, the views of clinicians, or the role of newly emerging intermediaries in the growing transnational market in human reproduction remains partial. The growing provision of eggs by some women for use in the reproductive projects of others is the subject of fierce political and ethical debate and presents a number of dilemmas for practice and policy. Drawing on a current, ESRC-funded study of three European cases, this paper explores the ways in which egg donation is framed in social, political and moral terms the UK, Spain and Belgium. These three countries hold a stake in the growing global reproductive bio-economy and share features of technological innovation and expertise, but have each adopted differing regulatory positions in relation to the governance of egg donation, especially with regards its marketing, levels of financial compensation for donors, and their identifiability. Presenting data collected in each country via interviews with policy representatives, mapping of national policy documents and textual analysis of marketing materials, the paper uses the concept of ‘framing’ (Fischer 2003) to explore how egg donation is constructed and prioritised at the national level. We suggest that a comparison of how the issue is selected, organised and interpreted in differing national contexts can generate an enhanced understanding of egg donation as a social, political, economic and moral practiceItem Metadata only Item Open Access The Lived Experience of Klinefelter Syndrome: A Narrative Review of the Literature(Frontiers Media SA, 2019) Cheetham, Tim; Fearon, Kriss; Herbrand, C.; Hudson, Nicky; McEleny, Kevin; Quinton, Richard; Stevenson, Eleanor; Wilkes, Scott; Hanna, EsmeeItem Metadata only Making patients political: Narrating, curating, enacting, and navigating the ‘idealised policy patient’(Elsevier, 2023-10-17) Dimond, Rebecca; Stephens, Neil; Herbrand, C.In this article we develop the concept of the ‘idealised policy patient’ to contribute to a better understanding of patient-family activism and the mechanisms through which powerful and persuasive patient narratives are facilitated and mobilised. The context through which we explore the idealised policy patient is the UK debates about the legalisation of mitochondrial donation, which primarily took place between 2011 and 2015. In our example, the idealised policy patient was constructed around a culturally persuasive narrative of patient suffering, where mitochondrial donation was presented as a desirable and ethical solution. We draw on interviews with patient-families and stakeholders, and documentary analysis to identify four dimensions of the idealised policy patient – narrating, curating, enacting and navigating. Narrating describes how the idealised policy patient appears in public and policy spaces, as a culturally available narrative which conveys certain meanings and is designed to invoke an emotional and practical response. Curating identifies the multiple forms of labour and facilitation involved in supporting patient-families in activist activities which strengthen the dominant narrative and its embodiment. Enacting focuses on the work of patient-families themselves in supporting and contributing to the idealised policy patient in a way that enlivens and embodies the specifically curated narrative. Finally, navigating considers how those offering an opposing viewpoint position themselves in relation to the idealised policy patient. To conclude, we argue that medical sociology has often given insufficient scrutiny to how the capacity of patients to leverage their status for political ends is bolstered through alignment with existing powerful groups, particularly in hegemonic campaigns. We encourage future researchers to examine how the idealised policy patient is reproduced and reorientated within different policy contexts.Item Metadata only Materialising the perfect egg 'donor': examining the work of screening technologies in clinical, commercial and counselling practices(2018-09) Hudson, Nicky; Coveney, C.; LaFuente, S.; Provoost, V.; Culley, Lorraine; Herbrand, C.; Pavone, V.; Pennings, P.Within Europe, fertility treatment using donor eggs is increasing, with demand coming from a diverse and growing number of recipients, including older women and gay male couples. Within the EU, the practice is governed by common regulation, which states that human tissue must only be provided within principles of voluntary unpaid donation. However country-level policies and practices vary, and it has been argued that due to increasing demand and varying levels of compensation, there is effectively an unofficial egg market emerging within Europe. Simultaneously, forms of clinical screening – both biomedical and discursive - mean that the reproductive potential of some women are given priority over others within this context. This paper explores how a range of screening and selection techniques work to produce the ideal egg donor. Drawing on policy mapping, marketing analysis, and interview data from clinicians and egg providers in the UK, Belgium and Spain, it considers how professional and policy rationalities, screening tools and the knowledges they produce, materialise a particular construction of the idealised, healthy, altruistic ‘donor’. This idealised donor is typically free from psychological and genetic ‘risks’ and expresses motivations in alignment with the principles of voluntary and unpaid donation and as enshrined within European law. We consider whether these tools and technologies may be part of a set of increasingly commercialised choreographies within egg donation in Europe.Item Open Access Mitochondrial donation, patient engagement and narratives of hope(2017-12-12) Herbrand, C.; Dimond, RebeccaThis article develops the sociology of hope and patient engagement by exploring how patients’ perceptions and actions are shaped by narratives of hope surrounding the clinical introduction of novel reproductive techniques. In 2015, after extensive public debates, the UK became the first country to legalise mitochondrial donation techniques aimed at preventing the transmission of inherited disorders. The article draws on the accounts of twenty-two women of reproductive age who are at risk of having a child with mitochondrial disease and would be the potential target of the techniques. We explore the extent to which our participants engaged with the public debates and how they accounted for their support of mitochondrial donation. We show that while the majority of our participants were in favour of legalisation, they did not necessarily wish to use the techniques themselves. We found that hope was multi-faceted, involving hope for self, hope for family and hope for society. We conclude by considering the implications of hope narratives for patients and families and the important but potentially limited role that patients can play as advocates for technology.Item Open Access Mitochondrial replacement techniques: who are the potential users and will they benefit?(Bioethics, 2016-12-14) Herbrand, C.In February 2015 the UK became the first country to legalise high-profile mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs), which involve the creation of offspring using genetic material from three individuals. The aim of these new cell reconstruction techniques is to prevent the transmission of maternally inherited mitochondrial disorders to biological offspring. During the UK debates, MRTs were often positioned as a straightforward and unique solution for the ‘eradication’ of mitochondrial disorders, enabling hundreds of women to have a healthy, biologically-related child. However, many questions regarding future applications and potential users remain. Drawing on a current qualitative study on reproductive choices in the context of mitochondrial disorders, this paper illustrates how the potential limitations of MRTs have been obscured in public debates by contrasting the claims made about the future beneficiaries with insights from families affected by mitochondrial disorders and medical experts. The analysis illuminates the complex choices with which families and individuals affected by mitochondrial disorders are faced, which have thus far remained invisible. An argument is presented for improved information for the public as well as an intensification of critical empirical research around the complex and specific needs of future beneficiaries of new reproductive biotechnologies.Item Open Access Powering life through MitoTechnologies: Exploring the bio-objectification of mitochondria in reproduction(BioSocieties, 2020-09-19) Bühler, Nolwenn; Herbrand, C.Mitochondria, the organelles providing the cell with energy, have recently gained greater public visibility in the UK and beyond, through the introduction of two reproductive technologies which involve their manipulation, specifically ‘mitochondrial donation’ to prevent the maternal transmission of inherited disorders, and ‘Augment’ to improve egg quality and fertility. Focusing on these two ‘MitoTechnologies’ and mobilising the conceptual framework of “bio-objectification”, we examine three key processes whereby mitochondria are made to appear to have a life of their own: their transferability, their optimisation of life processes and their capitalisation. We then explore the implications of their bio-objectification in the bioeconomy of reproduction. Drawing on publicly available material collected in two research projects, we argue that mitochondria become a biopolitical agent by contributing to the redefinition of life as something that can be boosted at the cellular level and in reproduction. Mitochondria are now presented as playing a key role for a successful and healthy conception through the development and promotion of MitoTechnologies. We also show how their “revitalising power” is invested with great promissory capital, mainly deriving from their ethical and scientific biovalue in the case of mitochondrial donation, and from the logics of assetisation, in the case of Augment.Item Metadata only Re-thinking egg donation in Europe: expanding practice, extending boundaries.(2019-08-20) Hudson, Nicky; Culley, Lorraine; Coveney, C.; Herbrand, C.; Pavone, V.; Lafuente, S.; Pennings, G.; Provoost, V.; Weis, ChristinaThe expansion of the use of donor eggs in fertility treatment has been exponential. Whilst the majority of egg donation historically took place in the US, donor eggs are used in over 56, 000 cycles of fertility treatment per year in Europe and a number of European egg donation ‘hubs’ have emerged, for example in Spain and Cyprus. Growth in the use of donor eggs in part reflects a changing profile amongst users of assisted reproductive technologies, including growing numbers of older women, male same sex couples, and those at risk from genetic conditions. An increasing number of egg donor ‘intermediaries’ such as egg banks and agencies have also emerged in the European context, reflecting a general shift towards an increasingly commercialised landscape around fertility treatment provision. Despite these changes, few studies have specifically considered their implications. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study on the economic, political and moral configuration of egg donation in the UK, Spain and Belgium, we suggest that changes in the ways egg donation is provided in the European context are worthy of increased attention. Data from policy mapping and interviews with policy stakeholders and professionals illustrate significant shifts in professional and commercial practice. These changes are reshaping the intersubjective, political and social boundaries involved in egg donation in novel and complex ways. We suggest that the expansion and diversification of its use has implications for the policy and regulation of egg donation the European context.Item Open Access Reframing egg donation in Europe: new regulatory challenges for a shifting landscape(Elsevier, 2020-05-19) Hudson, Nicky; Culley, Lorraine; Herbrand, C.; Pavone, Vincenzo; Pennings, Guido; Provoost, Veerle; Coveney, Catherine; LaFuente, SaraThe first birth from a donated egg was reported in Australia in 1984, ushering in a new era of possibilities for the treatment of infertility (1). Since then egg donation has undergone a number of technical, regulatory and commercial transformations. Its use by a growing and diverse range of social groups and more recently the dawn of advanced freezing technologies, have reconfigured the process. Given the transformation in its organisation and practice, there is a pressing need to map these changes in finer detail and to ask critical questions about the continued fit of existing policy and regulation in this rapidly developing landscape of fertility medicine. In this paper we present a ‘critical reflection’ (2) on developing practices in egg donation, which we suggest are reshaping the character of egg donation as well as raising questions regarding their implications for policy. We highlight a number of policy ‘blind-spots’ relating specifically to information giving and informed consent for egg providers, the emergence and entry of a range of intermediaries and a shift towards certain practices which may see eggs increasingly treated as tradable commodities. We call for a re-contextualising of the debate on egg donation and for renewed attention to the new political economy of egg donation in Europe.Item Metadata only Representing 'altruistic donation' in Europe: an analysis of fertility clinic websites in the UK, Belgium and Spain(2017-12-07) Hudson, Nicky; Coveney, C.; Herbrand, C.; Culley, Lorraine; Pavone, V.; Pennings, P.; Provoost, V.; Lafuente, S.European regulation on advertising for egg providers makes clear the need to ensure that principles of voluntary and unpaid donation (VUD) are upheld at the country level (ref). Across Europe this requirement is differently interpreted, with some countries permitting a range of advertising methods and others limiting or completely prohibiting any form of advertising relating to human bodily material - in some contexts this is punishable with imprisonment. Whilst there is growing scholarship which explores the recruitment of gamete providers much of this work still comes from the US where market forces shape practice. To date there has been no systematic or detailed study on the position of egg providers within the Europe context. This paper is part of a larger, multi-phased comparative study, which explores egg donation in the UK, Belgium and Spain - three countries that hold a stake in the growing global reproductive bio-economy and share features of technological innovation and expertise, but have each adopted differing regulatory positions in relation to the governance of egg donation. In this presentation, we draw specifically on analysis of fertility clinic websites and marketing materials across these three countries. First, we present a brief overview of the specific context in each country with regards to key regulatory questions such as compensation levels, identifiability, and rules around advertising for egg providers, in order to illustrate the policy variation which exists at the national level. Second, we present analysis of data from fertility clinic websites across the three countries to. We consider how the social, ethical and commercial specificity of each context shapes how egg providers are represented as 'donors' and reflect on the potential implications this has for the meanings, experiences and understandings of women who provide their eggs to clinics.