Bower-Brown, Susie; Shaw, Kate; McConnachie, Anja; Jadva, Vasanti; Ahuja, Kamal; Golombok, Susan; (2023) Biogenetic Kinship in Families Formed via Reciprocal IVF: ‘It Was [My Partner]’s Egg . . . But My Blood Flowed through Her’. Sociology 10.1177/00380385231212398. (In press).

Preview

Text bower-brown-et-al-2023-biogenetic-kinship-in-families-formed-via-reciprocal-ivf-it-was-my-partner-s-egg-but-my-blood.pdf - Published Version Download (202kB) | Preview

Abstract

Reciprocal IVF is a route to parenthood that, for the first time, allows cis two-mother families (and other couples in which both partners have a uterus and egg stores) to ‘share’ biological parenthood. This family form offers a valuable opportunity for researchers to examine experiences of gestational and genetic motherhood within the same family, and this article is the first to take a sociological approach to exploring kinship within this emerging family form. Drawing upon interview data with 14 two-mother families (28 mothers) who have conceived via reciprocal IVF, we show that mothers hold complex, creative and sometimes contradictory understandings of the ‘multiple motherhoods’ within their family (i.e. genetic, epigenetic and gestational motherhood). Overall, mothers took an active and strategic approach to constructing kinship within their family, and these findings have theoretical, empirical and clinical implications.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONCSVXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item