Interpreting assisted reproductive technologies in France and the United States: cultural, religious, and ethical values from a comparative perspective

This two-day Franco-American workshop seeks to compare the cultural, ethical, religious, historical and policy implications of how reproductive technologies have developed and now impact our two national contexts. In both countries, advanced reproductive technologies have long been in development and are now in widespread use. France and the United States share a certain number of similar conceptions relative to kinship and gender, and are both undergoing comparable evolutions in the creation of new family configurations. Yet in France, public discourse calling for “social solidarity” with people experiencing infertility is widespread and public payment and access is designed and tightly controlled through biomedical regulation. In the US, by contrast, “privacy” of family life and “consumer choice” dominate the public discussion, while few insurance schemes actually cover reproductive technology expenses and market access shapes both popular imaginaries and practical use. 

Organized by Rayna Rapp (NYU), Linda Gordon (NYU), Séverine Mathieu (EPHE-PSL, Paris) and Jennifer Merchant (Université Paris 2, Paris)

Thursday, April 12

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM  Welcome and introduction
Rayna Rapp (NYU), Séverine Mathieu (EPHE, PSL), Jennifer Merchant (Université Paris 2)

9:30 AM - 12:45 PM  Roundtable I: ART: Ongoing and Future Controversies
Simone Bateman (CNRS - Paris): Looking More Closely at the Assistance and the Technology in ART
Anne-Sophie Giraud (CNRS - Toulouse): Managing Responsibility and Choice in IVF in the UK and in France: Two Bioethics Models in Question

Rayna Rapp (NYU): Banking on DNA?
Natali Valdez (Rice University): Conceivable Comparisons: Epigenetic Thinking and Obesity During Pregnancy

2:00 PM - 4:30 PM  Roundtable II: Religious Challenges and Techno-Assisted Forms of Family-Making
Risa Cromer (Stanford Univ.): Finding Homes for Embryos: Race and Responsibility in Christian Embryo Adoption
Séverine Mathieu (EPHE, PSL): A Secular Embryo? Embryo Donation in France
Jennifer Merchant (Université Paris 2): Christian, Jewish and Muslim Approaches to Human Genome Editing
Enric Porqueres (EHESS - Paris): Techno-Assisted Forms of Family-Making in Recent Catholicism

4:45 PM - 5:30 PM  Linda Gordon (NYU): Comments and conclusion. Discussion

Friday, April 13

9:30 AM - 12:45 PM  Roundtable III: Biomedical Science and National Social Policies
Dana-Ain Davis (CUNY Graduate Center): On the Matter of NICUs
Heather Jacobson (University of Texas at Arlington): Ideological Assumptions About and Structural Barriers to Third Party Reproduction: How Macro-Level Structures and Discourse Shape and Influence Micro-level Decision-Making and Interactions

Noémie Merleau-Ponty (Reprosoc, Cambridge University): In Vitro Gametogenesis: What do Biologists Say about It?
Charis Thompson (Berkeley University): Selecting Societies in the Age of Genome Editing and Reproductive and Regenerative Technologies

2:00 PM - 4:30 PM  Roundtable IV: Destabilizing and Restabilizing “Family Values”
Rene Almeling (Yale University): GUYnecology: The Missing Science of How Men’s Health Matters for Reproduction
Rajani Bathia (SUNY Albany): Family Futurism in the Era of Speculative Reproduction and Ambivalent Ethics
Martine Gross (CNRS-EHESS - Paris): Gay Fatherhood and Surrogacy: Between Affective and Genetic Ties
Hélène Malmanche (doctoral Fellow, EHESS - Paris): “A Child From Both Of Us”: French Lesbian Couples Choosing ROPA Techniques (Reception of Oocytes from PArtner)

4:45 PM - 5:30 PM  Comments and conclusion
Linda Gordon, Séverine Mathieu, Jennifer Merchant, Rayna Rapp

In English

Organized with the generous support of the Institute of French Studies (NYU); Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE-PSL); the CNRS (GSRL); and the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)