Infertility, social exclusion and social policy
Maureen Baker
University of Auckland
Contact Email:   ma.bakerauckland.ac.nz

For married or cohabiting couples, the inability to conceive can lead to guilt, marital tensions and feelings of social exclusion. When their siblings and friends are raising children, many low-fertility couples feel left out of ‘normal’ adult life in which maturity is often associated with parenthood. In addition to these personal and relationship struggles, medically assisted conception and the use of reproductive technologies raises broader social policy questions about who is given access to treatment, which medical interventions are necessary, who pays, and how the courts will deal with the inevitable disputes.

This paper uses the discourse of 48 qualitative interviews with couples undergoing fertility treatment in Auckland, New Zealand to introduce several policy concerns. I examine how these men and women talk about infertility and social exclusion, and their experiences and views about medically assisted conception. Their comments are compared with findings from international research on infertility as well as social policy discussions about who has the right to reproduce, how much assistance the medical profession should provide, and how the state regulates these treatments.

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