Recently, Texas Governor, Greg Abott signed the heartbeat bill which proscribes abortion after 6 weeks. An inequitably short period, considering that most people don’t even detect the pregnancy until after 6 weeks. The bill is, of course, devastating but the unsurprising part is it has been passed by a cis-gendered heterosexual white man in the presence of many other such men with very few women in the room. (Abortion: Texas governor signs restrictive new law, 2021)
The above paragraph itself gives enough perspective to dissect how patriarchy tries to establish control over women’s bodies whether it be mobility, reproduction or expression. The pro-life argument almost always dismisses the woman and the value of her life in front of an unborn child. They refuse to acknowledge the indisputable problem of an increasing majority of abandoned children who have no homes. A few common themes to be noticed are:
Men and patriarchy will try their best to take control over women’s bodies and their autonomy.
The woman in question along with her physical and mental well-being is of the least importance.
A woman’s worth is limited to fertility and her ability to reproduce, especially sons.
The side effects of various treatments in bio-medicine on women are supposedly bearable and not to be questioned or acknowledged.
There is immense heteronormative pressure to give birth to your own child instead of adoption.
One might argue that the advancement of reproductive technologies is aiding the cause of feminism and improving reproductive freedom. A basic classification of Reproductive technologies is- Assisted Reproductive technologies (ARTs) and New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) and most of these technologies unfortunately have adverse consequences for women. NRTs are supposed to be the new age technology that makes life easier for women and along with the assistance of biomedicine to alleviate issues such as infertility. The problem with a lot of these technologies is ethics. When it comes to the IVF procedure, majority of times it is mostly due to the pressure women face of having to reproduce to fulfil their purpose of womanhood. Without this they are perpetually negatively affirmed to be inadequate. Despite the success rate of ARTs only being 10-15% women are still willing to put themselves under highly intrusive or painful procedures where they are not only introducing an abundance of drugs in their body but are constantly monitored for the same.
The problem of ethics here is that there would hardly be a woman upset at her inability to reproduce naturally without being influenced by the shackles of patriarchy as an individual. This gives leeway not only to pharma companies to profit over expensive procedures with a low success rate, market it to women to make them feel ‘complete’ but also allow men to emotionally manipulate, convince or worse force women to go under IVF in case they are not able to conceive. Hence, the moral dilemma becomes about her consent and how influenced it is. Pharma is a capitalistic and greedy industry that doesn’t care about the side effects on your body as long as you have the informed consent of what is going to happen to you and neither does it worry about evils it sanctions to take place. For example, multiple cases in India document the use of IVF for the reproduction of a ‘preferred sex’ which without a doubt in India is male. We have had a strong history of misogyny including female infanticide; hence, this just takes us a step back. In one instance, a University Professor underwent ART because she has previously given birth to daughters and wants to give birth to a son now. As certain religious rituals can only be performed by the men in the family and the woman is not valued by either of her families for birthing daughters instead of sons. This stigma subsists despite the most rudimentary fact that it is the chromosome of the sperm that determines the sex of the baby. In another instance, a woman went through ART procedures and later found out the sperm used was not her husband’s but a donor that has more efficient sperm. She was shocked and dejected and now has to accept that the baby inside her womb is not her husband’s. (Zairunisha, 2015)
In another instance, a woman went through ART procedures and later found out the sperm used was not her husband’s but a donor that has more efficient sperm.
Many women can’t read English despite which they are told to sign consent forms in English belied to be just a bunch of formalities to go ahead with the procedure, thus breaching the ethics of informed consent. ARTs and NRTs have so many loopholes including sex selection (despite sex determination being illegal in India), giving false hopes to women at a low success rate etc. The list of consequences of ART and NRT on a woman’s body is never-ending. Just taking the case of IVF, may result in multiple births, ectopic pregnancy, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, birth defects, cancer, stress, depression etc. (Chu, Peterson, & Lee) In many cases it has been noticed babies born through ART and NRT may themselves be infertile due to the taxing procedures.
Heteronormative parenthood forces the need to naturally reproduce and let women face whatever consequences it may result in. Even pregnancy itself has not been considered too dangerous for the mother despite delivery deaths and the side effects a woman goes through. In many cases the mother is not well informed of what she and her body will go through. Furthermore, her mental preparedness is not prioritized. She is not given access to good gynaecologists who recognize her consent and check whether there will be complications during pregnancy.
A major problem in ARTs is the contraceptive technologies used with an endless list of side effects. Interestingly, men’s birth control pills, despite being developed, never caught attention in the market because they have heavy side effects- similar to women’s birth control pills. There have also been other developments in the male birth control methods but unless it’s profitable for the pharma industry i.e., can be sold as pills and not a one-time solution, it is not given importance. Many women are exposed to these contraceptive measures at an early age that can have lasting or irreversible adverse effects on their body. If properly prescribed, there can be some benefits such as a reduction in the probability of developing certain reproductive system cancers but the ill effects outweigh the benefits. The side effects include Cardiovascular Effects such as stroke, metabolic effects, Neoplastic Diseases, Depression, Mood changes, Nausea, Migraine, weight loss or weight gain and bloating, missed periods, decreased libido, blood clots and may also lead to cancer. (10 most common birth control pill side effects, 2020) If you open a birth control pill packet, the first thing to be noticed is the double-sided booklet of side effects which is almost 3-5 feet long in small font.
Many women on contraceptives aren’t aware of the entirety of its side effects and may consequently go through undiagnosed depression and other mental health issues. The pressure of having to put your body through so much to avoid pregnancy or to conceive in the case of difficulties is immense and the onus is completely on women with the technologies in no way catering to the needs of women. A favourite phrase that I often come across on the internet is if men could get pregnant, painless abortions would be available everywhere as easy as withdrawing money from ATMs.
A favourite phrase that I often come across on the internet is if men could get pregnant, painless abortions would be available everywhere as easy as withdrawing money from ATMs.
To add to this, heteronormative principles and patriarchy have attached a stigma around adoption that is hard to let go of. The irrational need for men to reproduce a baby (son) from their blood to continue the family lineage is evident and that comes at a cost women have to pay. A woman’s body becomes a debate of ethics including the commoditization of women’s bodies through surrogacy.
Reproductive technology, biomedicine in particular, have massive detrimental effects on women’s bodies. Despite the questionable ethics involved and the need to direct more research to develop technologies, it doesn’t do away with the current practices for for-profit purposes. Many women can’t afford these technologies and most countries don’t offer them as aid under healthcare. Hence, they do not only have the burden to handle contraception or infertility treatment but further monetary pressure too. The list of ill effects is endless and there needs to be intervention to improve the condition of women in this particular context.
References
10 most common birth control pill side effects. (2020, September). Retrieved from Medical News Today.
Abortion: Texas governor signs restrictive new law. (2021, May 19). Retrieved from BBC News.
Chu, S., Peterson , H., & Lee, N. (n.d.). Contraceptive Use and Controlled Fertility: Health Issues for Women and Children Background Papers. Retrieved from NCBI.
Lingam, L. (1998). Reproductive Technologies and the Violation of Women's Bodies. Understanding Women's Health Issues: A Reader.
Schenker, J. G., & Eisenberg, V. H. (1997). Ethical issues relating to reproduction control and. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 5X .
Zairunisha. (2015). Impact of Reproductive Technologies on Women’s Lives in New Delhi: A Study from Feminist Prespective. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Vol:9.
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