IVF Survivorship: A New Field of Study

Abstract:
IVF survivorship is a novel concept in the field of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and their attendant autoethnographies. It also disputes the ART industry’s preferred narratives of ‘curing’ infertility and ‘delivering on baby dreams’, ideas that play well in cultures that celebrate parenting. The ART industry was able to expand with impunity for decades by downplaying and silencing patient-consumers’ damaged corporealities and trauma. Moreover, stigma and suffering associated with failed procedures stopped most former patient-consumers from organising for greater consumer protections and industry reforms. Survivorship not only undermines the industry’s saccharine themes; it concentrates unwanted visibility on ART treatment failures. Through a lens of survivorship, this article illuminates, analyzes and critiques market realities. It also explores harmful industry activities such as: misleading advertising; promoting new ART procedures without sound evidence; avoiding longitudinal health studies; dismissing patient-consumer emotional distress; and abandoning those who do not serve the industry’s narrative.

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