Reproductive (In)Justice in An Unequal World

In this second block, we turn to the technologies, markets and ideologies that shape who is enabled — or expected — to have children, who works as a gestational mother, and which children are supported to be born. Addressing "technological fixes", genetic selection and the outsourcing of pregnancy and fertility to the Global South, the three upcoming webinars trace how neoliberal economics, biotechnologies and global inequalities intersect in the politics of reproduction. Bringing together researchers and practitioners from political economy, art, science and technology studies, and feminist theory, we ask: who profits, who labours, and who is rendered dispensable in the global bioeconomy of reproduction?

Language: English, no translation to German and Spanish provided

Outsourcing Pregnancies: On the Political Economy of Surrogacy in Ghana and the Making of New Markets

Tuesday, September 1, 2026,  15:00–16:30 (German time) | Online

With Amrita Pande and Irina Herb | Register here

Commercial surrogacy has become a fast-moving, global business – and its map keeps changing. When one country closes its doors to foreign intended parents, the industry doesn't disappear; it moves on to the next. This shift often happens with little public attention to what it means for those who carry these pregnancies.

In this webinar, Amrita Pande and Irina Herb will discuss their work on the global surrogacy market: the politics of supply and demand, and one of the more recent shifts – towards African countries such as Ghana and Kenya.

We're looking forward to hearing about key findings from Amrita's report "Mapping Global Surrogacy", which recently received substantial attention in German media. It traces the "domino effect" behind the industry's constant relocation, as one country after another restricts or bans surrogacy. Building on this overview, Amrita and Irina will zoom in on the role of commercial agencies in driving the fertility industry's expansion and fuelling demand. Commercial surrogacy in Ghana serves as one example, illustrating how wider economic forces shape both the industry and surrogates' lived experiences.

The webinar comes at a moment when surrogacy has received sustained attention in German media — a country in which surrogacy is banned. By mapping the global surrogacy industry and highlighting one of the more recent destinations, our aim is to facilitate informed and lively debate.

Who Pays, Who Carries? Tracing Global Fertility Chains through Georgia

Date: September 15th, 2026, 15:00–16:30 (German time) | Online

With Sigrid Vertommen and Ketevan Vashagashvili | Moderator: Irina Herb | Register here

Georgia has become one of the world's key destinations for commercial surrogacy, but it doesn't exist in isolation. It is one link in a longer chain that stretches across borders, connecting intended parents, clinics, agencies, and those who carry the pregnancies. This webinar follows that chain, using Georgia as a close-up case study of how it actually works.

We are delighted to welcome Sigrid Vertommen, who coined the concept of "global fertility chains". From Sigrid, we will learn about the different actors along the chain, how markets and inequalities connect them across countries, and why thinking in terms of chains — rather than looking at any single country in isolation — helps us understand how this industry operates.

Ketevan Vashagashvili, director of the award-winning documentary 9 Month Contract, then brings us to Georgia itself: what the surrogacy market there looks like, who is driving demand, and what the biggest challenges are for the surrogates themselves.

Together, the two speakers move from the bigger picture of global fertility chains to the concrete realities on the ground in Georgia, offering a rare, well-informed look at one of the industry's central hubs.

The webinar comes at a moment when surrogacy has received sustained attention in German media — a country in which surrogacy is banned. By inviting guests from different contexts, our aim is to facilitate informed and lively debate.

Sci-Fi turned reality: On the Techno-Libertarian project of "building" "perfect babies"

Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 15:00–16:30 (German time) | Online

With Jennifer Denbow | Moderator: Irina Herb | Register here

Technologically optimising embryos used to be the stuff of science fiction. Today, some of the wealthiest and most influential men argue that it's no longer fantasy but an engineering problem waiting to be solved — one they themselves heavily invest in. This strand of thinking, sometimes called "neoliberal" or "libertarian" eugenics, doesn't rely on state coercion to decide who should or shouldn't reproduce, the way historical eugenics movements did. Instead, it puts its faith in markets and individual choice: if people are simply free to select, purchase, or optimise the genetic makeup of their children, what follows is a form of "new eugenics" — dressed up in the language of freedom, innovation, health, and consumer choice. "Having your best baby", as one American start-up advertises, becomes a project tightly bound to capital and power.

We are delighted to welcome Jennifer Denbow, who will help us shed light on these new developments, including "tech fixes" to social problems, the financialisation of reproductive technologies, and genetic selection.

This webinar closes our series by zooming out to the broader ideological currents shaping how reproduction is organised, sold, and regulated worldwide. It asks how these market-driven ideas about human "improvement" connect to the wider political economy of reproduction we've traced so far — and what's at stake when the sci-fi promise of the "best baby" is decided not through public debate and regulation, but through the market.