A Medical Anthropological Exploration of Health Care Decision-Making

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Cultural anthropologists have conducted systematic studies of the effects of changing technology on culture since 1960s. This research explores how family medical decisions are made, a domain long recognized within anthropology as one of the fundamental drivers of culture. New technological advances have afforded couples new social and economic choices that were until now impossible, as social norms and biological constraints dictated having children within a relatively narrow window. The new technology of oocyte cryopreservation, a technology that can prolong a woman's fertility, may change women's lives in the 21st century. Touted as a revolution in the way women age, oocyte cryopreservation is being heralded as a fertility insurance policy, and particularly as a way for older career women to extend their biological clocks. This ethnographic research project will be the first empirical study of oocyte cryopreservation among women in the United States and Israel, two of the earliest entrants into this field of assisted reproduction, but with strikingly different legal, economic, religious, and cultural mandates surrounding reproduction. Based in five major in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics where oocyte cryopreservation is now available, the study will involve in-depth semi-structured and reproductive history interviews with the first generation of egg freezers, assessing how variables such as education, career, financial stability, relationship status, ethnicity, religious background, medical diagnosis and fertility prognosis affect medical decisions. This project intends to examine the tensions between nature and culture, reproduction and production, and motherhood and work that are observable today in various debates about public health. It will also contribute vital new scholarship on assisted reproductive technologies within medical anthropology and science and technology studies. As oocyte cryopreservation technology evolves, so will the social, cultural, legal, religious, and ethical responses. This study promises to reveal another new interface of science and society, potentially answering a host of questions crucial to the production of sound social policy and relevant bioethical guidelines, which will guide various medical technology facilities and the individuals they serve.