Reproductive Tourism in the United States

Lauren Jade Martin is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University, Berks.

• Introduction: Procreative Outlaws 1. Reproductive Tourism in the Age of Globalization 2. The Push and Pull of Reproductive Tourism: The United States as Destination 3. Privatization and Self-Regulation in the United States Fertility Industry 4. Coming to America: How Providers Manage Work with International Clients 5. Ethics, Professional Autonomy and the United States Fertility Industry 6. Genetic Imperatives and Selective Technologies in the Global Landscape. Conclusion: Setting Regional and Global Standards. Appendix: Notes on Methodology and Sampling.

"Sociologist Martin (Penn State Univ., Berks) focuses on the international marketplace for which prospective parents leave home countries to obtain assisted fertility services—including egg donation, surrogacy, and sex selection—elsewhere. The author addresses how middle-class Americans may be drawn to India to acquire fertility services too expensive to pay for at home. She also explores situations in which wealthy infertile Japanese couples might seek surrogate parenthood in the US that would be illegal to have in Japan. Martin’s analysis excels when she reviews the varying availabilities of assisted fertility services in the US, which differ from one state to another because of diverging laws and from one period to another up to the present Obamacare era. Summing up: Recommended"—W. Feigelman, emeritus, Nassau Community College, CHOICE Reviews