Boundaries and risk: Media framing of assisted reproductive technologies and older mothers

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have historically been sites of heated public controversy. However, with widespread use, the boundary-challenging risks surrounding ARTs have become less newsworthy. One exception includes their use by “older mothers,” particularly postmenopausal mothers. In this paper, I review the social science literature related to the risks of ARTs and the conceptualizations of “older mothers”. Next, I move to analyze the specific case of 60-year-old Ranjit Hayer, who gave birth to twins in Calgary, Canada, through the context of the Canadian media coverage the week following the birth, using concepts from cultural approaches to risk perception, constructivist studies of technology, and risk communication theory. I argue that risk discourses emerge when technologies and users expose and challenge the contingent stability of the sociotechnical discourses surrounding them. This leads to a public re-opening of a “closed” technology and user and a reconstruction of the risks associated with them. This case demonstrates how an apparently “settled” sociotechnical network becomes reframed in terms of risk, and how the negotiation of this risk reveals, constructs, and interweaves various boundary discourses.

Research highlights►Analyzes media framing of 60-year-old Ranjit Hayer, who underwent IVF in India and then gave birth in Canada. ►Applies cultural approaches to risk perception, constructivist studies of technology, and risk communication theory. ►Theorizes the risky connection of postmenopausal mother and ARTs. ►Questions the “legitimate” use of ARTs and highlights their role as sociocultural, and technological change agents.