Islam and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the High-Tech Middle East

Globally, infertility is a significant but underappreciated reproductive health problem, particularly in pronatalist non-Western societies where motherhood is valorized and the desire for children is deeply entrenched.  This paper describes research on the globalization of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to the Middle East.  In vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to overcome male infertility (much of it genetic and probably related to consanguineous marriage) are now available in numerous Middle Eastern settings. However, recent religious rulings emanating from Shia Muslim-dominant Iran have created interesting avenues for infertile Muslim couples in the new millennium. Although the Middle East is rarely regarded as a “high-tech” setting, it is a key site for understanding the intersection of technoscience, Islamic bioethics, and modernity, all of which are deeply implicated in the brave new world of assisted reproduction.