Moral women, immoral technologies? Romanian women’s perceptions of assisted reproductive technologies versus adoption

Abstract

The present study explored how Romanian women perceive in-vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and adoption as alternative pathways to traditional parenthood. Previous studies suggested that both men and women generally prefer a full genetic link, followed by a partial genetic link and, finally, no genetic link (i.e. adoption). We explored these findings by testing a series of predictors in a sample of women aged 18–45-years. We found that adoption was the most preferred option among Romanian women, while surrogacy was the last. Older women, with children, rather non-religious, and in a steady relationship, had a more positive perception of IVF. Older women and less religious had a more positive perception of surrogacy as a pathway to parenthood. In hypothetical scenarios, the most preferred option was adoption, followed by IVF and surrogacy. Results are discussed within the Romanian context regarding various methods of ART.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• motherhood
• assisted reproduction
• surrogacy
• adoption

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Miss Georgiana-Roxana Raba for the very much appreciated help provided with data collection and research procedure.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Maftei is a collaborator assistant teacher in the Psychology Department of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, ‘Alexandru I. Cuza’ University, Iasi, Romania. Her areas of research include moral cognition, child development, human reproduction ethics and clinical psychology.

Andrei Corneliu Holman is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, ‘Alexandru I. Cuza’ University, Iasi, Romania. His areas of research include moral cognition, emotion–cognition interplay, embodied cognition and traffic psychology.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.