Cultural health capital and the stratification of reproduction in Czech and Spanish egg donation markets

Abstract

This article explores the ways that fertility clinics in the Czech Republic and Spain attract international fertility clients for fertility treatment involving egg donation. I draw upon a content analysis of 18 fertility clinics' advertising materials and 31 in‐depth interviews with fertility professionals in the Czech Republic and Spain, and Canadian fertility travellers to show how clinics use cultural health capital (CHC) to persist as popular destination sites for fertility travellers. I argue that the use of evidence‐based medicine and patient‐centred care combined with bioracial discourses are strategies by which clinics create a culture of fertility care that is legible to white, middle‐class, hetero travellers. My interviews with fertility patients who travelled to these sites show the ways in which CHC is interactional—I document how fertility travellers desire these specific practices that are both created for and marketed to them. By expanding the definition of CHC to show how fertility clinics market and fertility travellers expect a particular culture of fertility medicine, I elucidate the interactions between clinics and professionals that reinforce ideals of white motherhood and the stratification of reproduction.