From forced sterilization to preserving the fertility of trans people: doctors at work: Gender Campus

From forced sterilization to preserving the fertility of trans people: doctors at work

Abstract

This article examines the practical and normative commitments of medical professionals to promote the access to gamete storage for trans people in France and Switzerland. While sterilization used to be imposed on trans people to access legal transition, attention has recently focused on preserving their fertility. Based on an interview survey conducted with transition and reproduction doctors, we describe how they have strived to normalize trans people’s access to gamete preservation. Through administrative, technical, spatial, and relational work that extends beyond the gender and procreation order, they have developed practical support to make historically cis-heteronormative fertility medical infrastructures more inclusive. Through these daily care practices, they have participated in shaping both the law and the care setting, through their commitment to the reproductive rights of trans people.