Let ‘Pregnant Women Choose the Destiny for Themselves and Their Child’. How Fertility Clinic Digital Platforms Frame Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) in Spain
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) is used to select in vitro embryos for distinct clinical contexts and purposes. PGT for monogenic conditions (PGT-M), also known as Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), enables the prevention of passing on a known genetic disorder to one's offspring. Conversely, PGT for aneuploidies (PGT-A), or Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS), is used to improve IVF success rates in fertility patients and increase confidence about the health outcomes of potential offspring. Using discourse analysis, we examine how Spanish fertility clinic digital platforms frame these techniques and their associated subjectivity processes. We find: first, an excessively unproblematic portrayal of experimental innovations such as PGT; second, a linguistic, semantic and clinical overlap between 'diagnosis' and 'screening', which increases the genetic responsibility of couples or women without known genetic conditions regarding their prospective children; and third, the use of genomics as a modulator of female fertility and as a means to control maternal age-related decline. Ultimately, this discourse positions PGT as a routine IVF component, serving as an assurance tool for both treatment success and the health of the potential baby. This narrative reflects the speculative turn in assisted reproduction, emphasising new forms of responsibility and choice of would-be mothers.
Source: Sociology of Health & Illness
Authors: Mauro Turrini, Jorge Otín‐Gavín
Language: English
Subfield: Reproductive Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,330
Awards: G1105844351, G1175115578, G1855990336, G2262748287, G2309174360, G252646220, G2660406951, G286917893, G294895050, G300979063, G3480869486, G350714241, G410571670, G425668148, G430777504, G451917667, G491712853, G5080475149, G523076202, G5421974903, G5539308778, G5805502524, G593054264, G5967599077, G6033112984, G6731524417, G7084143925, G7805626310, G7863371703, G8497050386, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W4406218796