Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

In this chapter, Roberts examines “the reasons for the racial disparity that marks the new reproduction”—that is, women’s access to fertility treatments and egg donation (232). Reproductive technologies offer hope to infertile couples while creating “family arrangements that break the mold of the traditional nuclear family” (233). A child can have up to five parents: the genetically- related parents, the surrogate mother, and the parents who intend to raise the child. The technologies fulfill a couples’ wish to have a blood-related child. Pregnant women who have amniocentesis or other diagnostic procedures can terminate pregnancies upon discovering a genetic defect. In the future, gene alteration may help remedy genetic disorders or enhance certain characteristics.

Roberts asserts that these technologies encourage conformity instead of challenging the status quo. While they’ve helped single women and LGBTQ people become parents, most in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics’ clients are still heterosexual couples. At the time of this book’s publication, state statutes permitted insurance to cover IVF only when a husband’s sperm fertilized his wife’s eggs. In addition, courts have been willing to grant parental rights to sperm donors. Some feminists have contended that new reproductive technologies reinforce “traditional patriarchal roles that privilege men’s genetic desires and objectify women’s procreative capacity” (234).