Radkowska-Walkowicz, M. (2014). Between Advanced Medical Technology and Prayer: Infertility Treatment in Post-socialist Poland. Czech sociological review, 50*(6), 939-960. https://doi.org/10.13060/00380288.2014.50.6.149
Radkowska-Walkowicz M. Between Advanced Medical Technology and Prayer: Infertility Treatment in Post-socialist Poland*. Czech Sociol Rev. 2014;50(6):939-960. doi:10.13060/00380288.2014.50.6.149
Radkowska-Walkowicz, Magdalena. "Between Advanced Medical Technology and Prayer: Infertility Treatment in Post-socialist Poland." Czech sociological review*, vol. 50, no. 6, 2014, pp. 939-960.
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Sociological paper argues naprotechnology colonizes the female body
Critical to restorative reproductive medicine
A 2014 sociology paper argues that naprotechnology in Poland colonizes the female body and keeps old gender roles in place. Promoters call it cheaper and more effective than IVF.
Key Findings
Major Polish media outlets give naprotechnology wide coverage, many politicians promote it, and the Polish Parliament has debated the method.
Supporters describe naprotechnology as a cheaper and more effective option than IVF. The method relies on close observation of the female fertility cycle and may include drug or surgical treatment.
In Poland, IVF has been used for over 25 years. Debate on its moral, legal and economic aspects grew heated in 2007, and a growing number of Catholic voices urge a ban.
Most Polish gynecologists who specialize in infertility treatment express strong criticism of naprotechnology.
The author argues that naprotechnology, although it may appear emancipating, colonizes the female body and reinforces modern discipline through control, confession and body regimes.
Interpretation
The paper is a sociology analysis from a Czech journal, and this synopsis summarizes its abstract. The author examines how naprotechnology figures in the Polish IVF debate, and the views on gender and discipline are the author's argument.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine works with the body's own cycle to find and treat the cause of infertility. Cycle charting gives a woman and her partner information about her own fertility, and evaluation comes before treatment. NaProTechnology, developed by Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers, is one named method built on those principles. IVF bypasses infertility and leaves the cause unresolved.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
In Poland, invitro fertilisation technology (IVF) has been in use for over 25 years, garnering success and social approval. However, in 2007, a heated debate erupted on the moral, legal and economic aspects of IVF. A growing chorus of emphatic Catholic voices calls for IVF to be banned. This paper focuses on 'naprotechnology', a new actor and a fresh card in Poland's IVF debate. This method of treating infertility in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church is promoted as a cheaper and more effective alternative to IVF. Naprotechnology is primarily based on close observation of the female fertility cycle, but also involves pharmacological or surgical treatments. Most Polish gynecologists specialising in infertility treatments are strongly critical of the method, which is seldom referenced in international medical literature. Nonetheless, naprotechnology has considerable exposure in major Polish media outlets. The method has been debated in the Polish Parliament and is promoted by many politicians. The author argues that, despite the possible perception of naprotechnology as an emancipating force, it is in fact a form of a colonisation of the female body and strengthens traditional gender imagery and modern forms of discipline (control, confession, body regimes).
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