Chronic Uncertainty and Modest Expectations: Navigating Fertility Desires in the Context of Life With Endometriosis
Technologies of Reproduction Across the Lifecourse
ISBN: 978-1-80071-734-3, eISBN: 978-1-80071-733-6
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Abstract
For the millions of women living with endometriosis, significant disruption to normative life expectations and a considerable impact on everyday life are common. Whilst for many women concerns about and experiences of infertility may be a central feature of life with the condition, little work has considered the impact that chronic illness has on reproductive decision-making or on the ways in which a medical condition is managed in relation to plans for conception. This chapter considers how heterosexual women with endometriosis and their male partners experience the intersection of fertility desires with the use of reproductive technologies (contraceptive and conceptive) and how these experiences intersect with the medical and surgical management of endometriosis. Three themes drawn from interview data are presented: the first considers how the uncertain and indeterminate character of endometriosis shapes imaginaries about future fertility, conception and childbearing. The second focuses on how endometriosis mediates expectations about the success of fertility treatments and technologies; exploring in particular the manifestation of low expectations in relation to possible success. The third theme considers how endometriosis and fertility pathways intersect, creating specific disruptions whereby fertility treatment may be delayed by endometriosis care, and where endometriosis care may be interrupted or paused by fertility desires. Our data show how endometriosis shapes reproductive desires, decision-making and experiences and has important implications for understanding how for those living with a chronic illness, plans for having children are made within a context of biographical and biomedical contingency.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Our sincere thanks to all the women and men who gave generously of their time to take part in the Endopart study. Thanks also to the Principal Investigator on the study Professor Lorraine Culley, and the Co-investigators Dr Helene Mitchell, Professor Elaine Denny and Mr Nick Raine-Fenning. Thanks to the Centre for Reproduction Research writing group who provided critical feedback on earlier versions of this chapter and to the convenors and participants at the ‘Integrating Reproductive Technologies’ symposium, Brocher Foundation, November 2019, for their helpful comments and suggestions.
Citation
Hudson, N. and Law, C. (2022), "Chronic Uncertainty and Modest Expectations: Navigating Fertility Desires in the Context of Life With Endometriosis", Boydell, V. and Dow, K. (Ed.) Technologies of Reproduction Across the Lifecourse (Emerald Studies in Reproduction, Culture and Society), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-733-620221008
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022 Nicky Hudson and Caroline Law. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited