Politics, doctors, assisted reproductive technologies & religion: Transgenerational understandings and experiences of single motherhood in Spain

ABSTRACT

The aim is to achieve a transgenerational view of single motherhood in Spain, to look at which contexts it arises in, how it changes with the introduction of assisted reproduction, and how the role of religion in Spanish society permeates medical practice and affects the lives of women patients. I examine single motherhood and investigate two interconnected themes: (a) being a mother and being mothered are both permeated with sociocultural, political, religious, economic and psychological significance; (b) Spain led Europe in multiple births due to assisted reproduction, thus ethical conflicts and patient rights are analyzed.

Note

Notes

1. The Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”), on love in the family, presented on 8th April, 2016, brings together the results of the 2014 and 2015 synods. In the second chapter of this document, entitled “The Experiences and Challenges of Families”, the Pope refers to “various forms of an ideology of gender that ‘denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman’”. The Pope calls into question assisted reproductive technologies that have “introduced the ability to manipulate the reproductive act (…). In this way, human life and parenthood have become modular and separable realities, subject mainly to the wishes of individuals or couples. (…) Let us not fall into the sin of trying to replace the Creator. We are creatures, and not omnipotent. Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.” On the vocation of the family, the Pope states that “the absence of a father gravely affects family life and the upbringing of children and their integration into society. This absence, which may be physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual, deprives children of a suitable father figure”. (Retrieved from http://www.religionconfidencial.com/vaticano/Papa-ideologia-inquietante-imponerse-pensamiento_0_2688331169.html).