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Abandonment and accumulation: embryonic futures in the United States and Ecuador.

Authors :
Roberts EF
Source :
Medical anthropology quarterly [Med Anthropol Q] 2011 Jun; Vol. 25 (2), pp. 232-53.
Publication Year :
2011

Abstract

When frozen embryos are publically debated in the United States, they are most often positioned as having two possible future trajectories: (1) as individual humans and (2) as contributors to stem cell research. Long-term embryo accumulation threatens both of these futures. An accumulated embryo is stuck in a clinic, held back from having an individual future or from contributing to science. There are other kinds of futures, though. For some patients in the United States and Ecuador, where I conducted ethnographic research, future reckoning involves a vision of responsibility toward embryos embedded within a specific family. For these patients, frozen embryo donation to another family or to science constitutes abandonment. The future at stake is not that of an individual embryo's life, but a group's future who would abandon one of its own. These patients would rather destroy embryos than freeze them for a future away from their relations. [Ecuador, United States, in

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0745-5194
Volume :
25
Issue :
2
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Medical anthropology quarterly
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
21834360
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1387.2011.01151.x