Abstract

A recent article, explores the issues of choice, agency and gender as they relate to assisted reproductive technologies. The author of that article claims that counter-stories as ‘narratives of resistance’ may help see how women can reconcile a strong desire to have children with the desire ‘to remain authentic and whole’. While the narratives proposal may help to understand women’s choices, this approach becomes unhelpful where there is one cultural perception of women – the view of pro-natalism or mandatory motherhood – that reigns absolute; where all narratives influencing a woman’s decisions are exclusively ‘narratives of hope’; and where a pro-natalist culture has fully embraced IVF and has further entrenched it by legislation. In this setting, the societal and medical pressure on women is so high that resistance becomes almost impossible. In this context, it would be more effective to challenge present pro-natalist reproductive policies and medical reproductive advice.Key words: assisted reproduction, cultural perceptions of women, medical counselling, reproductive policies.In a recent article, Aline Kalbian explores the issuesof choice, agency and gender as they relate to assistedreproductive technologies. She observes that thepowerful desires and expectations common toencounters with fertility medicine, combined with theambivalence about the proper characterization ofinfertility, make questions regarding choice, agency andgender difficult to answer. She proposes, therefore, twobroad narrative categories that help capture theexperience of encounters with fertility medicine:‘narratives of hope’ and ‘narratives of resistance’.Kalbian believes that counter-stories as narratives ofresistance may help us see how women can reconcilethe experience of a strong desire to have children withthe desire to remain 'authentic and whole’. This paper examines this proposal from theperspective of Israeli policies in reproductive matters;and from the perspective of a patriarchal society thathas fully embraced and promoted these policies.