"Unruly bodies becoming parents: experiences of assisted reproduction and pregnancy care for LGBTQAI+ people". Lecture by Dr. Agnes Kandlbinder & Maila Mertens
School for Transdisciplinary Studies: Modul Gender und Diversity konkret
07. und 08. November 2025
The past century has seen significant developments in reproductive medicine that have made it possible for an increasing number of people to have genetically related children. While the problem of infertility in heterosexual couples already benefits from broader media attention and a significant number of studies, the data situation in the case of queer couples remains limited so far. Legislative changes such as stepchild adoption and marriage for all have launched new opportunities for LGBTQAI+ people to become parents. At the same time, bureaucratic hurdles and financial burdens continue to pose challenges that do not affect all groups of people equally.
This lecture will lay out what we currently know about the landscape of personal experiences of LGBTAI+ people in the clinical context of assisted reproduction and pregnancy care based on some recent international studies. It considers the interplay of queer/non-normative bodies and lives with the realm of assisted reproductive technologies. The aim is to give an overview of the area from a sociological as well as ethical perspective, taking into account the concept of intersectionality, and thus starting a discussion on what aspects need to be addressed to achieve reproductive justice in this context.
This lecture has been co-created with Maila Mertens and is based on the joint 2025 publication of the same title in the DIKE volume In corpore – What the law does to our bodies.