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A review by em_reads_books
The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood by Belle Boggs
4.0
A fascinating read - lovely personal memoir crossed with broad-reaching journalism. Like a lot of health and reproductive topics, this is one I know affects a ton of people but I don't know a whole lot about it because it's often too personal/emotional/shameful for folks to discuss openly. I know some friends have been through infertility and some version of ART and...that's about all I know. So I picked this up hoping to understand that better and learn a thing or two about the science. That, and because I'd heard her writing is lovely, and it is!
What she really gets across is how impossible and open-ended the choices involved in creating a "Plan B family" are, and how brand-new and uncertain this branch of medicine and public policy is. She talks about her personal choices, and how they go from whether/when to have a baby to gradually exploring option after option for making that happen, how to pay for it, whether to involve other people (via surrogacy or adoption), how she feels compelled to choose something. She unpacks the rational, ethical, and emotional factors going into these, and you quickly see how none of it is clear-cut.
She knows that even having most of the options she has is a function of her privilege, and discusses how other folks are systematically deprived of those choices - from forced sterilization in North Carolina, to laws designed to exclude same-sex couples from the process, to the more subtle/unconscious discrimination pushing people of color and less educated people away from ART. And she gets into some of the history and public perception of the process as well. It's far-reaching but not very in depth on any particular topic, definitely more of a memoir than a comprehensive look.
Overall, it's a candid and empathetic read, and fairly quick, and I'd recommend it to anyone who uses science and technology to manage their fertility.
What she really gets across is how impossible and open-ended the choices involved in creating a "Plan B family" are, and how brand-new and uncertain this branch of medicine and public policy is. She talks about her personal choices, and how they go from whether/when to have a baby to gradually exploring option after option for making that happen, how to pay for it, whether to involve other people (via surrogacy or adoption), how she feels compelled to choose something. She unpacks the rational, ethical, and emotional factors going into these, and you quickly see how none of it is clear-cut.
She knows that even having most of the options she has is a function of her privilege, and discusses how other folks are systematically deprived of those choices - from forced sterilization in North Carolina, to laws designed to exclude same-sex couples from the process, to the more subtle/unconscious discrimination pushing people of color and less educated people away from ART. And she gets into some of the history and public perception of the process as well. It's far-reaching but not very in depth on any particular topic, definitely more of a memoir than a comprehensive look.
Overall, it's a candid and empathetic read, and fairly quick, and I'd recommend it to anyone who uses science and technology to manage their fertility.