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The EDNA project was developed to consider the political, economic and moral configuration of egg donation for fertility treatment in the UK, Belgium and Spain. Europe was selected as the site for the study because of the relative lack of research relating to the organisation and practice of egg provision in this context and due to the unique constellation of regulatory oversight for member states who are subject to the requirements of the EU Tissue and Cells Directive. The study was based on a constructivist-interpretive epistemology and employed a sequential multiple-method design to explore processes and experiences of egg donation. Phase one involved mapping policy in the three countries and across Europe, stakeholder interviews and a literature review. Phase two involved analysis of clinic websites and specifically their online recruitment materials in the three countries. Phase three involved qualitative interviews with professionals and egg providers to understand perceptions, experiences and moral reasoning amongst those involved in the practice, and phase four involved stakeholder workshops and dissemination activities. Ethical approval for the study was granted by De Montfort University (ref 1989), Ghent University and CSIC.

As part of the expansion of global fertility markets and an increasingly neo-liberal framing of reproduction, egg donation has undergone a number of technical, political and commercial transformations. Its use by a growing and diverse range of social groups, complex national changes in donor identification and compensation practices, and more recently the dawn of vitrification technologies have fundamentally reconfigured the process. This method of ‘fast freezing’ allows clinics increased flexibility in the storage, export, and import of eggs thereby opening up potential for increased commercialisation. Whilst existing research has focused on egg providers’ motivations and experiences or on the social processes contributing to these wider shifts, less attention has been given to women’s perceptions of contemporary developments and changing practices in what has been referred to as the new reproductive bio-economy. This paper draws on interviews with egg providers in the UK (n= 27) and Spain (n=25) carried out as part of the EDNA project (ESRC grant ref: ES/N010604/1). The interviews included questions designed specifically to generate data on values and principles relating to the use, storage, and distribution of eggs. We identified two themes from the accounts present in both countries. First, positivity towards the use of eggs for the treatment of several recipients, thus ensuring the eggs do not ‘go to waste’; and second, a generalized concern regarding what is perceived as the over-commercialization of eggs by clinics. Egg providers’ ideas and reasoning about the use of their eggs need to be taken into account as new techniques and protocols emerge for the clinical and commercial management of donated tissue. Decision-making and informed consent processes should also be reviewed in light of these shifts and incorporated into the wider policy context.

The 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.

Oral presentation at the British Sociological Association Human Reproduction Study Group Annual Conference. De Montfort University, Leicester, 12th June 2019. Increasing numbers of people are undertaking surrogacy as a means of creating a family. In heterosexual couples, surrogacy centres on a third-party female who facilitates the couple’s pregnancy, but is not the expectant father’s intimate partner. This may potentially add a level of complexity and tension to this pregnancy experience. Whilst recent healthcare policies highlight the importance of involving fathers throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the transition to parenthood, it has been suggested that men are often side-lined in the organisation of surrogacy arrangements and participating in the pregnancy experience by the women involved; the intending mothers, and surrogates (Teman 2010:185). The limited research that exists on men’s experiences of surrogacy arrangements focuses mainly on single or gay men/couples (Norton, 2018; Smietana 2017, Riggs et al 2015). There is a dearth of literature on heterosexual partnered men’s experiences of fatherhood through surrogacy. This exploratory, qualitative study, based on an interpretivist epistemology, explores how heterosexual partnered men, who are fathers or are becoming fathers via surrogacy, experience their transition to fatherhood , their involvement in the pregnancy, how expectant fathers perceive and navigate the relationship with their surrogate, and the impact of this relationship on the father’s relationship with his intimate partner. This presentation reports the first findings, which suggest surrogacy is a complex and challenging route to fatherhood. To the authors’ knowledge, no other research has yet focused on heterosexual partnered men’s experiences of surrogacy. This research is therefore an important addition to the limited empirical knowledge base.

In this paper, we draw on three ethnographic studies of surrogacy we carried out separately in different contexts: the western US state of California, the south Indian state of Karnataka, and the western Russian metropolis of St Petersburg. In our interviews with surrogate mothers, intended parents, and surrogacy professionals, we traced the meanings and ideologies through which they understood the clinical labour of surrogacy. We found that in the US, interviewed surrogates, intended parents and professionals understood surrogacy as an exchange of both gifts and commodities, where gift-giving, reciprocity, and relatedness between surrogates and intended parents were the major tropes. In India, differing narratives ofsurrogacy were offered by its different parties: whilst professionals and intended parents framed it as a winwin exchange with an emphasis on the economic side of it, the interviewed surrogate mothers talked about surrogacy as creative labour of giving life. In Russia, approaches to surrogacy among the interviewed surrogate mothers, professionals and intended parents overlapped in framing it as work and a businesslike commodity exchange. We suggest these three different ways of ethical reasoning about the clinical labour of surrogacy, including justifications of women’s incorporation into this labour, were situated in local moral frameworks. We name them repro-regional moral frameworks, inspired by earlier work on moral frameworks as well as on reproductive nationalisms and transnational reproduction. Building on these findings, we argue that any international or global regulation of surrogacy, or indeed any moral stance on it, needs to take these local differences into account.

open access article Information received by women regarding physical activity during and after pregnancy often lacks clarity and may be conflicting and confusing. Without clear, engaging, accessible guidance centred on the experiences of pregnancy and parenting, the benefits of physical activity can be lost. We describe a collaborative process to inform the design of evidence-based, user-centred physical activity resources which reflect diverse experiences of pregnancy and early parenthood. Two iterative, collaborative phases involving patient and public involvement (PPI) workshops, a scoping survey (n = 553) and stakeholder events engaged women and maternity, policy and physical activity stakeholders to inform pilot resource development. These activities shaped understanding of challenges experienced by maternity and physical activity service providers, pregnant women and new mothers in relation to supporting physical activity. Working collaboratively with women and stakeholders, we co-designed pilot resources and identified important considerations for future resource development. Outcomes and lessons learned from this process will inform further work to support physical activity during pregnancy and beyond, but also wider health research where such collaborative approaches are important. We hope that drawing on our experiences and sharing outcomes from this work provide useful information for researchers, healthcare professionals, policy makers and those involved in supporting physical activity behaviour.