Age-related infertility and reproductive tourism in Annarita Briganti’s novel Non chiedermi come sei nata

Abstract

Traditional socio-cultural constructions of womanhood have often focused on women’s reproductive capacity, which has determined their destiny and shaped their identity over centuries. Given the long-time equation of motherhood and women’s identity, infertility is an important topic that raises question about how women experience infertility and how science, through advances in assisted reproduction, has intervened in the creation of life. In the European context, Italy has one of the lowest birth rates, a phenomenon attributable to a series of adverse structural conditions. In particular, precarious work conditions, insufficient wage levels, and a high cost of living represent significant obstacles to the materialization of maternity and paternity plans. In the absence of a holistic approach to address these problems, women continue to be held responsible for reproduction. This has created a focus on assisted reproduction treatments and “reproductive tourism,” the practice of traveling to another country for reproductive care, as the main solution to the problem of low birth rates. However, this solution poses new ethical dilemmas that can give rise to inequalities among women and can perpetuate the lack of international regulations protecting the rights of all the parties involved. These two issues of assisted reproduction treatments and reproductive tourism can be addressed by the reproductive justice framework that works to ensure social justice and reproductive rights. In recent years, reproductive justice has emerged as a prolific discipline raising awareness and condemning the structural and legislative problems faced by couples who wish to exercise their right to have a child. Considering the theoretical framework of reproductive justice, this paper will analyze the experience of infertility, the desire for motherhood, and the implications that assisted reproduction techniques have for women in the Italian novel Non Chiedermi Come Sei Nata (Don’t Ask Me How You Were Born, 2014) by Annarita Briganti.