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Abstract
This study explores the process by which the treatment of infertility, which has been in the hands of the private sector, has been taken over by the state as a matter of public health. It argues that this shift stems from the pro-natalist policies of the state to help increase the population. Infertility treatment, using assisted reproductive technologies and its legitimization by the Islamic jurists, is used as a lens through which to examine the state's body politic. The frequent reversals of policies, since the late nineteenth century to the present, are shown to be directly linked with the nation-building goals of the state, expecting the citizens to readjust their reproductive behavior to meet the state’s policies.
Notes
1 Kashani-Sabet, Conceiving Citizens, 4.
2 Ibid.
3 Abbasi-Shavazi et al., The Fertility; Hoodfar and Assadipour, “The Politics.”
4 UN Demographic Year Book.
5 Abbasi-Shavazi et al., The Fertility, 24.
6 Some scholars, for example Abbasi-Shavazi (“La Fécondité”), Ladier-Fouladi (“Population”), Hoodfar and Assadipour (“The Politics”), have argued that although the population policies are viewed as responsible for a sharp drop in population growth, in reality this decline had started around 1984, before the implementation of the policies, especially in urban areas, due to a number of sociocultural and economic factors.
7 As mentioned above, in addition to the state’s educational program, other socioeconomic factors also played a significant role in the reduction in the size of the family.
8 See Hoodfar, “Population”.
9 Kashani-Sabet, Conceiving Citizens, 91.
10 For more details see Hoodfar, “Population”; and Tremayne (2004).
11 Tremayne and Akhondi, IVF.
12 Although the stigma of infertility has been reduced among the more liberal layers of society, who form a minority, it remains widespread among the majority of people regardless of their degree of religiosity, conservatism, or social background, or education.
13 Inhorn and Van Ballen, Infertility.
14 Inhorn and Tremayne, Islam, Introduction.
15 Hereafter, jurists.
16 Tappan, “Ethical,” 103–30.
17 Inhorn and Tremayne, Islam.
18 For more information of various solutions suggested by the jurists to legitimize third-party gamete donation see ibid.
19 For the full explanation of the legitimization of assisted reproductive technologies see, for example, Tremayne, “Law”; Inhorn and Tremayne, Islam; Tremayne, “Whither Kinship?”; Tremayne and Akhondi, IVF.
20 Interestingly, during the fieldwork, I came across a couple, whose marjaʿ was against third-party gamete donation, but named another marjaʿ and told the couple to go to him and ask for his permission to proceed. Tappan (“Ethical”) also recounts such incidences. Finally, the director of one of the leading clinics also confirmed that they observe this practice among their patients frequently.
21 Ibid.
22 Ayatollah Khamenei (1999), 105.
23 There were also other solutions put forward by some marjaʿs, to legitimize gamete donation, for example the use of temporary marriage to the donor of gamete. See Tremayne, “Law,” 144–64.
24 The majority of the public clinics were housed within the public hospitals and worked under the supervision of university medical departments.
25 Personal interview with the head of the clinic, June 2004. Also interview with Amir Mehryar, Director of the Iranian Centre for Research on Asian and Oceanic Population (2007).
26 This is more the case with the sperm and egg donation, whereby the recipients of gamete often choose their own donor, a decision which has created many problems for both the clinic and the infertile couples or even donors in the past. For more details see Tremayne, “Whither Kinship?” In cases of embryo donation, the permission of the court is required, which limits the scope of the individual decision-making by the recipients.
27 For full explanation of donation by relatives, see Tremayne, “Whither Kinship?,” 69–83.
28 Personal observation during the fieldwork in the clinics.
29 Akhondi et al., “Prevalence.”
30 The chance of success through assisted reproductive technologies is, on average, around 35 percent depending on a number of factors. This explains why some couples have to resort to more than one cycle of IVF to increase their chances of conception, and hence the expense involved.
31 From a speech made by Ahmadinejad during a trip to Alborz Province on 6 January 2011, reported by London weekly Kayhān.
32 For a fuller explanation of the change in women’s status, see Shadi-Talab, “Iranian Women.”
33 Tābnāk site (www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/346841).
34 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tābnāk site (www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/346841).
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Akhondi et al., “Prevalence.”
38 Ibid.
40 Najmabadi (Professing Selves) explains a similar situation in cases of transgender surgery in Iran, whereby the gaps left in regulations, allows room for manoeuvre by homosexuals to use the situation to their own benefit.
41 See Inhorn and Tremayne, Islam; Tremayne, “Whither Kinship?” For more details also see Tremayne and Akhondi, IVF.
42 For more details see Tremayne, “Whither Kinship?”
43 Personal interview with Dr Akhondi, February 2018.
44 Hoodfar, “Turning Back.”
45 Parkin, “Foreword,” xii.