From biopolitics to bioeconomies: The ART of (re-)producing white futures in Mexico's surrogacy market

Abstract

Reproduction has been the privileged site of post-colonial eugenic politics through which the future national body is regulated in racial terms. Nikolas Rose argues that new forms of liberal eugenics have replaced traditional state biopolitics. In the current bioeconomy, it is no longer the state but active consumers that make (racialized) reproductive choices. The market of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in Mexico serves as an empirical case to argue that the liberal eugenics practiced in this market recasts rather than replaces traditional state biopolitics. This becomes evident in (1) the racialized access to surrogacy programs in Mexico and (2) in giving higher value to white sex cells, while (3) devaluing the genetic traits of non-white women through the selection and classification processes of reproductive laborers. Analyzing the transnational geographies of surrogacy markets in Mexico, the article investigates how future bodies are whitened through biomedical practices and consumer choices that are shaped by and simultaneously reinforce (post-)colonial imaginaries of white desirability.

International Solidarity in reproductive justice: surrogacy and gender-inclusive polymaternalism

“…Over twenty years after Calverts vs. Johnson, the case of Pattharamon Chanbua (or 'Baby Gammy') demonstrated once more that a very narrow moralising script is activated in public dramas involving 'cross-racial' renegade surrogates in the context of global racial stratification (Lewis 2016). Even as it showed that a nonwhite surrogate can become 'Mother Courage' under some circumstances, the exceptionality inscribed in the Gammy case -whereby the white paedophile father was delegitimised as aberrant -still reinforced the basic logic of what Carolin Schurr, in the Mexican context, has called the 'liberal eugenics' of surrogacy, 'reproducing white futures' (Schurr 2017). Rather than undermine the 'natural' priority of white parents' claims upon babies, the brouhaha reinforced it by stressing how (supposedly) exceptional the scenario in question was.…”

Multiple mobilities in Mexico’s fertility industry

“…While there are limited official numbers, surrogacy experts have suggested there are several hundred cases per year, with intended parents coming mainly from North America and Europe and contracting mostly with Mexican surrogates. Single or gay men use either local Mexican donors or global egg donors from Eastern Europe or South Africa (Schurr 2017). In December 2015, the State of Tabasco banned surrogacy for foreign couples and gay menfollowing regulations in India where surrogacy is now also only feasible for Indian citizens in heterosexual living arrangements (Schurr and Perler 2015).…”

Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

“…The market in gametes, and its correlation with race and whiteness, is a rather understudied topic, and has been analysed by only a handful of scholars. For instance, geographer Schurr (2017) explores this in the context of surrogacy in Mexico. Separately in other works, the authors are considering the term ‘resource’ and the racialization of the gamete markets in South Africa.…”