DR. GRETA GAARD, DEPT. OF ENGLISH, UWRFPRESENTATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

32ND ANNUAL WOMEN’S STUDIES CONFERENCEAPRIL 4-5, 2008 AT UW-GREEN BAY

WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT:LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

“Reproductive Technology, or Reproductive Justice?

An Ecofeminist, Environmental Justice Perspective on the Rhetoric of Choice”

Women’s Reproductive Control: A History

Prefeminist history20th c. options of private contraception and

abortionFrom private to public contraception and abortion:

The Pill (1960) Roe v. Wade (1973)

Anti-feminist backlash (1980s-present) Anti-choice movement -> Pro-Life Pro-Choice movement & privacy framework

Choice coopted by conservative Pro-Life => Choice to keep an unplanned pregnancy => Choice to use reproductive technologies

"Juno" (2007)"Juno" (2007) “Little Girl Lost”CityPages (3/12/2008)

“Little Girl Lost”CityPages (3/12/2008)

16-yr-old’s “choice” to go full-term and give up the child

Abortion clinic as “depressing”

No examination of Mifepristone (RU-486)

No analysis of separation effects on birth mothers

Open adoption from 20-something mother of 3 to infertile couple backfires through failure to file legal papers severing birth mother’s right to child

After baby spends two months with 1st-chosen adoptive parents, birth mother chooses to give baby to a different couple

Does a birth mother stop thinking of her child after giving it up for adoption?

What did the baby want?

Popular culture examples of antifeminist “choice”

“Miracles for Sale”Mpls. Star/Tribune (10/21/2007)

“Miracles for Sale”Mpls. Star/Tribune (10/21/2007)

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” (10/9/2007)“The Oprah Winfrey Show” (10/9/2007)

Choice of infertile couples to pay $15,000 to egg donor agencies

Choice of egg donors who earn $6,000-$20,000

No mention of dangers of egg donation for donor, or psychological implications for child produced thereby

“Wombs for Rent”“Choice” of 1st world

white couple to use IVF“Choice” of white egg

donor“Choice” of surrogates

in India, only $6,000Race & class inequities,

women as womb slaves

Why are these “choices” antifeminist? Two more popular culture examples

Feminist Perspectives on the New Reproductive Technologies

Who benefits? Who pays? The egg donors The infertile couple The surrogates The children/products The medical-industrial complex

Reinforcing race and class privilegePrivatizing & medicalizing reproductive

health problems—ignoring root causes that would require radical changes

The process of NRTs

Egg donors undergo at least these three steps:Lupron – a drug used to shut down a woman’s ovaries

before multiple egg extractionPergonal – one of several drugs used to (offshoots

include Humegon, Fertinex, Repronex, Gonal-F, and Follistim)

Egg extraction from the ovaries through laparascope

Fertilisation & Implantation– IVF (in a laboratory, embryos grow, some are selected for implantation

in the uterus) Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (mixed & transferred to fallopian tubes) Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (fertilised & transferred)

Health Concerns in Shutting down Ovaries (Lupron)

rashes, vasodilation, burning sensations, tingling, itching, headaches/migraines, dizziness, hives, hair loss, severe joint pain, difficulty breathing, chest pain, nausea, depression, emotional instability, loss of libido, dimness of vision, fainting, weakness, amnesia, hypertension, rapid heart rate, muscular pain, bone pain, insomnia, edema, chronic enlargement of the thyroid, liver function abnormality, anxiety, vertigo

Norsigian 2005

Health Concerns in Hyperstimulating the Ovaries

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) Development of cysts, enlargement of the ovaries,

massive fluid buildup in the body Potentially fatal Increased risk of clotting disorders, kidney damage,

ovarian twisting Associated with life-threatening pulmonary conditions

in FDA trials: thromboembolic events, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary infarction, strokes, arterial occlusion with loss of a limb, & death (Norsigian 1995)

ChoiceChoice (continued)(continued)

Privatizes the decisions surrounding childbearing

Has led to conflicts between individual and community

Has led to (real or perceived) conflicts between the woman and the embryo or fetus

Provides no rhetorical protection against creating “designer” babies (eugenics)

Can be used to promote regressive gender roles & framed as an opposition to “life”

Undercuts demands for public funding of abortion

Appeals to those who have options, but is meaningless to those who don’t, hence politically divisive

Choice + failure to oppose population control reinforces the disparity btw. WMW women & low income women & WOC worldwide

Weak ethical framework, esp.when counterposed w/“life”

Rhetorics of “Choice” vs. Reproductive Justice

Reproductive Justice

Reproductive maternal and infant health & health equity across race, class, sexuality, & nation

Reproductive rights (legal protections, privacy, state regulation)

Challenges potential eugenic outcomes of NRTsProvides a conceptual framework for

challenging the exploitation of women’s bodies and reproductive capacities

Contextual socioeconomic environment, but not the ecological environment

Ecofeminism, Environmental Justice, and Environmental Health

Breast Cancer and Environmental Health: ecofeminism in the 1990s

Toxic waste, race & class: environmental justice in 1990s

Endocrine-disruptors, phthalates, PCBs, organochlorines, pesticides -> animal/human health Our Stolen Future (1996) Living Downstream (1998) , Having Faith (2003) Challenged Conceptions: Environmental Chemicals

and Fertility (2005)= Decreased fertility among economic elites, and

environmental degradation esp. among economically disadvantaged

Scope of Infertility ProblemScope of Infertility Problem

High priority compounds include (but are not limited to):High priority compounds include (but are not limited to):

12% of the reproductive age population in the U. S., or 7.3 million couples, reports difficulty conceiving and/or carrying a pregnancy to term

CDC data shows impaired fecundity over the last two decades increased in all reproductive age groups, but most sharply in younger women (under age 25)

In 2002, an estimated $2.9 billion was spent on infertility treatments in the US. Now, some 46,000 (or one in 100) babies born to Americans each year are conceived as a result of NRTs.

one fifth or more of treated couples do not end up with a baby after a course of ART cycles

 current-use pesticides

phthalates bisphenol A brominated flame

retardants (PBDEs) perfluorinated

compounds(PFCs)octyl/nonylphenols

Findings from Environmental Health (Stanford/Vallombrosa Study 2005)

2nd & 3rd Wave Feminisms & Natural Mothering

Second-wave feminism Mothering magazine; Suzanne Arms, Immaculate

Deception: Myth, Magic & Birth (1975; Repr. 1994); Ehrenreich & English, For Her Own Good (1978); Rich, Of Woman Born (1976); Ruddick, Maternal Thinking (1989)

Janice Raymond, Andrea Dworkin, Catherine Mackinnon

Third-wave feminism, natural mothering, & maternal activisms Books & Magazines: Breeder (2001), HipMama (1993) Internet: Brain, Child; Literary Mama; Rock the Cradle

blog Radio: Mombo Activisms: MomsRising, MothersMovement

Attachment Parenting (Sears 1999) Baby wearing, cosleeping, extended breastfeeding

Feminism & Reproductive Justice Feminism & Reproductive Justice

Feminism & Environmental JusticeFeminism & Environmental Justice

Safe & affordable contraception, including abortion

Prenatal, infant, & maternal health care

Economic support for family caregiving

Rethinking gender, sexuality & culture Women’s primary value not

confined to motherhood Challenging compulsory

heterosexuality Interrogating masculinity

Preceding, plus: Ban on endocrine-disrupting

chemicals Precautionary Principle for Env.

Chemicals & NRTs More stringent regulations on NRTs

to protect the physical & mental health of egg donors, birth mothers, gestational mothers, and children alike

Workplace health regulations to include reproductive health

Resisting eugenics in national and int’l. medical, pharmaceutical, & corporate interventions into reproductive rights

Shifting Rhetorics: From “Choice” to Reproductive and Environmental Justice

Social Justice Movements Environmental

Perspectives

Feminism

Civil Rights

Feminism &

Science

2nd Wav

e

Env. Science

s

Reproductive &

Environmental Health

Env. Justice Mvmt.

Consumption, Population, & Sustainability

Ecological, Feminist, &

Reproductive Justice

3rd Wave Ecofeminis

m

Critiques of NRTs & the Rhetoric of “Choice”

Maternal

Activisms

An Intersectional Analysis of NRTs & Ecological, Feminist, & Reproductive Justice

Lingering questions for an ecological, feminist, and environmental justice perspective on reproductive

justice

The Mothers. Considering the attachment and affection of birth mothers, gestational mothers, and adoptive mothers for their children, how can we develop an ecological, feminist perspective on the relationship between a mother and her child?

The Children. What do we know for certain about the physical and mental health effects of the NRT practices of egg donation, IVF, and surrogacy on the children these technologies produce? In a society with attachment disorders on the rise, what impact will this medicalized commodification of reproduction have on the children?

The Planet. At a time when world population is soaring, the NRT’s are increasing the elite population in nations responsible for overconsumption. Can elites be persuaded to build family in more ecologically sustainable ways?

2nd & 3rd Wave Feminist Sources

Arms, Suzanne. Immaculate Deception: Myth, Magic, & Birth. (1975; 1994). Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 1994.

Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Deirdre English. For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women. New York: Doubleday, 1978.

Our Bodies, Ourselves. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book Accessed 3/20/2008.

Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 1976.

Ruddick, Sara. Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989.

Gore, Ariel, and Bee Lavender, eds. Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers. Seattle: Seal Press, 2001.

McConnell, Carolyn. “Juno’s Feminism?” Rock the Cradle, 1/25/2008. http://www.rockthecradleblog.com/2008/01/junos-feminism.html Accessed 3/21/2008.

Ecofeminism & Environmental Justice

Brady, Judy, ed. 1 in 3: Women with Cancer Confront an Epidemic. Pittsburgh: Cleis Press, 1991.

Clorfene-Casten, Liane. Breast Cancer: Poisons, Profits and Prevention. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1996.

Colburn, Theo, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers. Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?—A Scientific Detective Story. New York: Penguin/Plume, 1996. http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/index.htm

Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (1998).

Steingraber, Sandra. Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood (2003).