Routledge Reproductive Tourism in the United States: Creating Family in the Mother Country: 142 (Routledge Advances in Sociology)

This book examines the United States as a destination for international consumers of assisted fertility services, including egg donation, surrogacy, and sex selection. Based on interviews conducted with fertility industry insiders who market their services to an international clientele in three of the largest American hubs of the global fertility marketplace - New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco - and focusing on the providers rather than the consumers of assisted fertility services, the book shines a light on how professional ethics and norms, in addition to personal moralities, shape the practice of reproductive tourism. Review "Sociologist Martin (Penn State Univ., Berks) focuses on the international marketplace for which prospective parents leave home countries to obtain assisted fertility services―including egg donation, surrogacy, and sex selection―elsewhere.  The author addresses how middle-class Americans may be drawn to India to acquire fertility services too expensive to pay for at home.  She also explores situations in which wealthy infertile Japanese couples might seek surrogate parenthood in the US that would be illegal to have in Japan.  Martin’s analysis excels when she reviews the varying availabilities of assisted fertility services in the US, which differ from one state to another because of diverging laws and from one period to another up to the present Obamacare era. Summing up: Recommended"― W. Feigelman, emeritus, Nassau Community College, CHOICE Reviews About the Author Lauren Jade Martin is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University, Berks.