IVF Doctors as Moral Pioneers and Moral Guardians in Pronatalist China.

IF 1.3 3区社会学 Q2 ANTHROPOLOGY

Medical Anthropology Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-02 DOI:10.1080/01459740.2026.2619424

Ziqi Xie

引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this article I examine the roles of IVF doctors in two state-owned hospitals amid China's shift to pronatalism. Rather than simply promoting infertility treatment, some doctors act paternalistically as "moral pioneers" and "moral guardians," reappropriating moral authority granted by biomedical expertise to persuade many women of "advanced maternal age" seeking a second child through ART to reconsider or discontinue treatment. Their reasoning arises from navigating contradictory reproductive governance while drawing on personal moral values. While reinforcing state narratives on declining fertility, they also provide medical justifications for forgoing treatment, offering some women an alternative model of femininity.

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试管婴儿医生在中国的道德先锋和道德守护者。

在这篇文章中，我考察了两家国有医院的试管婴儿医生在中国向生育主义转变的过程中所扮演的角色。一些医生不是简单地推广不孕不育治疗，而是家长式地充当“道德先锋”和“道德守护者”，重新利用生物医学专业知识赋予的道德权威，说服许多“高龄产妇”通过抗逆转录病毒治疗寻求第二胎的妇女重新考虑或停止治疗。他们的推理源于驾驭矛盾的生殖管理，同时借鉴个人道德价值观。在强化国家对生育率下降的叙述的同时，它们也为放弃治疗提供了医学上的理由，为一些女性提供了另一种女性气质模式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Medical Anthropology Multiple-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

4.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Medical Anthropology provides a global forum for scholarly articles on the social patterns of ill-health and disease transmission, and experiences of and knowledge about health, illness and wellbeing. These include the nature, organization and movement of peoples, technologies and treatments, and how inequalities pattern access to these. Articles published in the journal showcase the theoretical sophistication, methodological soundness and ethnographic richness of contemporary medical anthropology. Through the publication of empirical articles and editorials, we encourage our authors and readers to engage critically with the key debates of our time. Medical Anthropology invites manuscripts on a wide range of topics, reflecting the diversity and the expanding interests and concerns of researchers in the field.