In their desperate quest for conception, thousands of infertile couples from around the world travel to the global in vitro fertilization (IVF) hub of Dubai. In Cosmopolitan Conceptions Marcia C. Inhorn highlights the stories of 220 "reprotravelers" from fifty countries who sought treatment at a "cosmopolitan" IVF clinic in Dubai. These couples cannot find safe, affordable, legal, and effective IVF services in their home countries, and their stories offer a window into the world of infertility-a world that is replete with pain, fear, danger, frustration, and financial burden. These hardships dispel any notion that traveling for IVF treatment is reproductive tourism. The magnitude of reprotravel to Dubai, Inhorn contends, reflects the failure of countries to meet their citizens' reproductive needs, which suggests the necessity of creating new forms of activism that advocate for developing alternate pathways to parenthood, reducing preventable forms of infertility, supporting the infertile, and making safe and low-cost IVF available worldwide.

Illustrations  ix Prologue. Rahnia's Reproductive Journey  xi Introduction. IVF Sojourns  1 1. Hubs: Medical Cosmopolitanism in the Emirates  35 Hubs: Reprotravel Stories  77 2. Absences: Resource Shortages and Waiting Lists  105 Absences: Reprotravel Stories  138 3. Restrictions: Religious Bans and Law Evasion  159 Restricitions: Reprotravel Stories  197 4. Discomforts: Medical Harm and the Search for High-Quality IVF  221 Discomforts: Reprotravel Stories  255 Conclusion. Cosmopolitan Conceptions  287 Acknowledgments  305 Glossory of Medical Terms  311 Notes  321 References  351 Index  371