Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

A Portrait of Assisted Reproduction in Mexico pp 67–106Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Managing Reproduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 145 Accesses

Abstract

Building on the idea that contraception and assisted reproduction are two sides of a coin, Managing Reproduction looks at the influence the “population problem” discourse had on the medical field of assisted reproduction. This discourse claimed that certain countries urgently needed to implement family planning programmes to halt their population growth. This materialised in the creation of government and non-government research institutions and projects focused on researching the biological bases of reproduction and the perception and social implications of managing reproduction, as well as on offering family planning services. Eventually, this discourse pushed the association for an epistemic shift, transforming the field, and continuing the establishment of the epistemic and material infrastructure upon which the assisted reproductive system was being built.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In the program, it was Celerino Cano who was named as the speaker representing this ministry, but it turn out to be Rabell who gave the talk.

  2. 2.

    Alvarez Lezama added to this point that socialist countries also welcome a large population because it means a large work force which in turn make the economy grow. The relationship between population size and socialism was feared by the USA.

  3. 3.

    Historians have pointed out that there was a clear critique to the birth-rate decrease solution within other segments of the population. For more on this, see Turner (1974), Nagel (1978), Valdés (1980), de Márquez (1984), and Welti-Chanes (2011).

  4. 4.

    Regarding the export of meat, Loredo said that many Mexicans could not afford to pay for the meat that was produced so they had to export it.

  5. 5.

    An active researcher in the contraceptive field, she was the head researcher in the clinical trials to test the pill in Puerto Rico and Mexico.

  6. 6.

    An example of the work done at this time by Colegio de México is the international meeting they held in 1970 that then became the book Dinámica de la Población de México.

  7. 7.

    Syntex was able to achieve such an important place within the hormone industry worldwide due to several factors. First, Emeric Somlo (a Hungarian lawyer and businessman) and Federico Lehmann’s (German chemist and physician) appreciated the advantages that Marker’s method of synthesis entailed. When Marker began his work on the syntheses of steroid hormones in the 1930s, it was a very expensive process dominated by the technology developed in Europe (one gram of progesterone could cost up to 80 dollars). This might have been what led him to decided to focus on the source of the compounds, turning his attention away from animals and towards plants, and developing what is now known as the “Marker Degradation”. Using plants and his synthesis method brought prices down. Somlo, Lehmann, and Marker founded Syntex in 1944. Second, the high academic standards of the Chemistry school a the UNAM. After a year of having founded Syntex, Marker left. Somlo and Lehmann hired George Rosenkranz, together with a team of Mexican chemists. Soon they were able to develop a similar process and continue the production of hormones. A few years later, in 1949, Carl Djerassi also joined the team followed by a young chemist Luis E. Miramontes . By this stage, Mexico’s hormone production was overtaking the monopoly held by Europe and then the USA. As a young chemist, Luis E. Miramontes had been searching for a way to avoid miscarriages when he found a way to avoid conception. In 1951, Djerassi, Miramontes, and Rosenkranz were able to synthesise 19-nor-progesterone, from which Miramontes was then able to produce 19-noretindrona which became the base for the oral contraceptive pill. Due to the importance of this work, Djerassi considers that “Syntex as a company, and Mexico as a country, deserve full credit as the institutional site for the chemical synthesis of an oral contraceptive steroid”; however, this recognition was not given to any of them back then (and still is not fully). Djerassi’s statement makes sense if we remember that the American scientist John Rock chose Envoid, the oral contraceptive formula developed by Searle Pharmaceuticals, over the one developed by Syntex (norethindrone), guaranteeing with this that it was the USA and not Mexico who received the credited as the birthplace of the Pill. Third, to the protectionist policies which favoured Syntex in terms of applying extremely high taxes in exportation to foreign labs, delaying or rejecting their permits to exploit the natural resources needed; and finally, because their research interests had extremely practical applications that were in need during the first years of Syntex. For more on the development of the pill, Syntex, and the research on hormones carried out at that time, see Soto Laveaga (2007, 2009) and Léon Olivares (2001).

  8. 8.

    Article 4 “Todos los individuos tienen derecho de decidir, de manera libre, responsable e informada, acerca del número y espaciamiento de sus hijos” Every individual has the right to decide, freely, responsibly and well informed, about the number and spacing of their children. With this, the use of contraceptives becomes part of women’s right and part of the Human Rights movement.

  9. 9.

    This strategy was used in many places. For example, in 1968 Walt Disney together with the Population Council put out short cartoons explaining the problem of overpopulation, how we came to have it, what can be done by using family planning methods , and how we should measure “manhood” in terms of how well he takes care of his children and not on how many he has.

  10. 10.

    “¿Piensa en el gasto? Entonces piense que con una familia bien planeada se puede balancear adecuadamente su presupuesto. Y recuerde que la familia pequeña vive mejor”.

  11. 11.

    ¿Piensa tener más familia? Entonces piense en que todos tengan cuanto necesiten. Y recuerde que la familia pequeña vive mejor”.

  12. 12.

    Soto Laveaga (2007), in her very detailed analysis of these campaigns, suggests that these campaigns were targeted to a wider audience. However, her focus when saying this is on the campaigns promoting certain gender and civic roles not reproduction. I agree that these gender and civic messages could have been targeted to a larger audience, but not so the case of the reproductive messages. One instance to support my point is the images used, seldom do you see stereotypes of the economically affluent segment of the population.

  13. 13.

    Televisa was and is the largest television network in the country. For more on the role of television in Mexican politics and culture, see Beard (2003), Pearson (2005), Orozco Gómez (2006), Tate (2007), González de Bustamante (2009, 2010), Allende (2012), Franco Migues (2012), and Lewkowicz (2014).

  14. 14.

    Barbasco is the name given to diosgenin-rich Mexican yams, Discorea mexicana and Discorea composita, from which a number of substances (such as steroids) useful in the pharmaceutical industry can be synthesised.

  15. 15.

    Endocrine Disturbances in Chronic Human Malnutrition. (1953). Vitamins and Hormones, Vol. 11, pp. 97–132.

  16. 16.

    Robert Greenblatt (1906–1987) was a Canadian endocrinologist who worked at the Medical College of Georgia. He was involved in the development of the sequential oral contraceptive pill and in the discovery of clomiphene citrate as a drug to induce ovulation.

  17. 17.

    President Manuel Avila Camacho (1940–1946) developed the National Hospital Plan as a way to increase the number of hospitals and expand their reach to cover larger sectors of the population. Both the National Nutrition Institute and the National Medical Centre were part of this project. For more on the National Medical Centre, see the work of Fajardo Ortiz, a researcher at UNAM who has done extensive work on this institution.

  18. 18.

    Sixth president of the AMEE (1959–1961) and the first that was not a founding member, responsible for the work on sterility carried out at the Gineco1 of the IMSS, where three of the authors worked.

  19. 19.

    LRH is the luteinising-releasing hormone, GnRH is the gonadotropin-releasing hormone.

  20. 20.

    A novel banned in many countries until roughly the 1960s because of its explicit descriptions of sexual activity between a working-class man and an upper-class-married woman and the use of words considered unprintable.

  21. 21.

    They sometimes use the term Fertilización Extracorporea (FEC) or out-of-body-fertilisation to talk about IVF.

  22. 22.

    It is important to remember the basic premises of legal kinship are both biological and marital, the woman who gives birth is the mother and her husband is the father. Kinship is based on the biological link which is the result of copulation. It is assumed that for every birth there was the previous act of coitus.

References

  • Allende, A. C. (2012). Telenovelas en México. Nuestras íntimas extrañas. Comunicación y Sociedad, Nueva época (18), 205–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez Lezama, F. J. (1964, Mayo–Ago). El incremento demográfico y la planeación familiar. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, XV(2), 64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, J. H. (2012). Margaret Sanger: A life of passion (Reprint ed.). New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beard, L. J. (2003). Whose life in the mirror?: Examining three Mexican telenovelas as cultural and commercial products. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 22, 73–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, J. C. (2001). The globalization of fertility behavior. Population and Development Review, 27, 93–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canto de Cetina, T. E. (1994). Programas de biología de la reproducción en México y particularmente en Yucatán. Revista Biomed, 5(3), 141–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chavez Villasana, A. (1964, Mayo–Ago). El incremento demográfico y la planeación familiar. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, XV(2), 72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Consejo Nacional de Población. (1999). Introducción. Veinticinco años de planificación familiar en México. La situación demográfica de México. México: Consejo Nacional de Población.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corona Uhink, G. (1964). Palabras del Dr. Guillermo Corona Uhink Prof. de Medicina Humanistica de la Escuela Nacional de Medicina de la U.N.A.M. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, 15(2), 105–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Barbieri, T. (2000). Derechos reproductivos y sexuales. Encrucijada en tiempos distintos. Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 62(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.2307/3541178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Márquez, V. B. (1984). EL proceso social en la formación de políticas/ el caso de la planificación familiar en México. Estudios Sociológicos, 11(2–3), 309–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folch-Lyon, E., de la Macorra, L., & Bruce Schearer, S. (1981). Focus group and survey research on family planning in Mexico. Studies in Family Planning, 12(12), 409–432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franco Migues, D. (2012). Ciudadanos de ficción: Discursos y derechos ciudadanos en las telenovelas mexicanas. El caso Alma de Hierro. Comunicación y Sociedad, Nueva época (17), 41–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gire, G. de I. en R. E. A., & Radar 4. (2015). NIÑASy Mujeres sin Justicia. Derechos Reproductivos en México.

    Google Scholar 

  • González de Bustamante, C. (2009). Dependency and development: The importance of TV news in the history of Mexican television. Galáxia (18), 247–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • González de Bustamante, C. (2010). 1968 olympic dreams and tlatelolco nightmares: Imagining and imaging modernity on television. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 26(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1525/msem.2010.26.1.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gual-Castro, C. (2000). Programas universitarios de posgrado en biología de la reproducción. Gaceta Médica de México, 136(3), S75–S78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez-Sánchez, S. (2000). Transición de la alta a la baja fecundidad en México. Cuadernos de investigación, Cuarta Época, No. 12. México, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann, M. (2009). Planning men out of family planning: A case study. Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad - Revista Latinoamericana, 1, 104–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernández Valencia, M., & Saucedo García, R. (2018). Contribuciones del IMSS a la medicina mundial. In T. Miguel Ortega, J. de J. Arriaga Dávila, A. C. Sepúlveda Vildósola, F. A. Salamanca Gómez, & C. Martínez Castuera Gómez (Eds.), Pasado, presente y futuro. Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. IPN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karchmer, S. (1999). Instituto Nacional de Perinatología 1983–1993 (Libro Negro). México: INPer.

    Google Scholar 

  • León Olivares, F. (2001). El origen de Syntex, una enseñanza histórica en el contexto de ciencia, tecnología y sociedad. Revista de la Sociedad de Química de México, 45(2), 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, S. (1967). La investigación y la planeación demográficas en México. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 1(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.24201/edu.v1i01.27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewkowicz, E. (2014). Rebel love: Transnational teen TV vs. Mexican telenovela tradition. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 28(2), 265–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2013.854869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, D. P. (1964, Mayo–Ago). El incremento demográfico y la planeación familiar. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, XV(2), 101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez Manautou, J. (2013). Departamento de Investigación Científica del IMSS Su inicio en 1966. In F. A. Salamanca Gómez, J. A. González Anaya, F. Cruz Vega, & F. Aceves Ávila (Eds.), Investigación en salud. México, D.F.: Editorial Alfil: Gobierno de la República: IMSS: Academia Mexicana de Cirugía, A.C.: Fundación IMSS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Manautou, J., Cortez, V., Giner, J., Aznar, R., Casasola, J., & Rudel, H. W. (1966). Low doses of progestogen as an approach to fertility control. Fertility and Sterility, 17(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(16)35825-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Manautou, J., Giner-Velasquez, J., Cortes-Gallegos, V., Aznar, R., Rojas, B., Guitterez-Najar, A., & Rudel, H. W. (1967). Daily progestogen for contraception: A clinical study. British Medical Journal, 2(5554), 730–732. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.5554.730.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mateos Fournier, M. (1964). El incremento demográfico y la planeación familiar. Symposium. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, 15(2), 60–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, M. (2017). The economization of life. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, J. S. (1978). Mexico’s population policy turnaround. Population Bulletin (Population Reference Bureau Inc.), 33(5), 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Najam, A. (1996). A developing countries’ perspective on population, environment, and development. Population Research and Policy Review, 15, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orozco Gómez, G. (2006). La telenovela en México: ¿de una expresión cultural a un simple producto para la mercadotecnia? Comunicación y Sociedad (0188–252X)(6), 11–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortega, M., Arriaga Dávila, J. de J., Sepúlveda Vildósola, A. C., Salamanca Gómez, F. A., & Martínez Castuera Gómez, C. (Eds.). (2018). Contribuciones del IMSS a la medicina mundial. Pasado, presente y futuro. Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. IPN. Retrieved from https://www.ipn.mx/assets/files/secgeneral/docs/SG/Libro%20IMSS%2075%20a%C3%B1os.pdf.

  • Paz, S. (2015, February 5). EL mexicano que detonó la revolución sexual. Retrieved October 29, 2018, from http://www.conacytprensa.mx/index.php/sociedad/personajes/154-el-mexicano-que-detono-la-revolucion-sexual.

  • Pearson, R. C. (2005). Fact or Fiction? Narrative and reality in the Mexican telenovela. Television & New Media, 6(4), 400–406. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476405279863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez, Palacios y Ulloa Aguirre. (1989). In G. Soberón, J. Kumate, & J. Laguna (compliladores). Cuahutemoc Valdés (coordinador). LA Salud en México: Testimonios 1988. Especialidades Médicas en México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pick de Weiss, S. (1987). Actitudes, conocimientos y conductas de planificacion familiar en México: una década de investigación psicosocial (1975–1985). Revista Mexicana de Psicología, 3(2), 155–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabell, E. (1964). Palabras del profesor y licenciado Enrique Rabell del consejo nacional técnico de la educación de la Secretaría de Educación Pública. La explosión demográfica y la acción educativa del régimen. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, 15(2), 77–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhold, R. (1979, November 5). Mexico’s birth rate seems off sharply. The New York Times. Retrieved from The New York Times Archive.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, S. (1966, June). Family planning in national health programs. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 42(6), 447–453.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sierra García, F. (1964). Incremento demográfico y planeación familiar. Estudios Sobre Esterilidad, 15(3), 131–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soto Laveaga, G. (2007). “Let’s become fewer”: Soap operas, contraception, and nationalizing the Mexican family in an overpopulated world. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 4(3), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1525/srsp.2007.4.3.19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soto Laveaga, G. (2009). Jungle laboratories: Mexican peasants, national projects, and the making of the pill. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, A. (1953). Problemas de Fertilidad, Esterilidad y Población. Estudios sobre Esterilidad, IV(2), 66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate, J. (2007). The good and bad women of telenovelas: How to tell them apart using a simple maternity test. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 26, 97–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatum, H. J., & Delgado-Garcia, R. (1968). Research on physiological aspects of reproduction. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 46(3), 121. https://doi.org/10.2307/3349318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, F. C. (1974). Responsible parenthood: The politics of Mexico’s new population policies. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdés, L. M. (1980). Ensayo sobre política de población 1970–1980: Planificación familiar. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 14(4), 467–480. https://doi.org/10.24201/edu.v14i04.471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vallarta-Vázquez, M. (2005). El consentimiento informado: un derecho reproductivo en México. In M. Torres (Ed.), Nuevas maternidades y derechos reproductivos (pp. 239–274). México: El Colegio de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welti-Chanes, C. (2011). La demografía en México, las etapas iniciales de su evolución y sus aportaciones al desarrollo nacional, 69, 39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zárate, A. (2015). Crónica acerca del Doctor Jorge Martínez Manautou, médico ilustre del IMSS. Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, 53(2), 254–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zárate, A., & Basurto-Acevedo, L. (2013). Notas históricas sobre la investigación científica en el IMSS. Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, 51(6), 650–655.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zárate, A., Canales, E., & MacGregor, C. (1976). Esterilidad e Infertilidad. México: Ediciones Científicas. La Prensa Médica Mexicana, S.A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zárate, A., & MacGregor, C. (Eds.). (1987). Manejo de la Pareja Estéri. Un libro para facilitar el tratamiento de la esterilidad. México: Editorial Trllas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zavala de Cosío, M. E. (1989). Fecundidad: dos momentos en la transición demográfica. Demos, UNAM e-Journal (2), 6–7. México, UNAM. www.ejournal.unam.mx.

  • Zavala de Cosío, M. E. (1992). Cambios de fecundidad en México y políticas de población. México: El Colegio de México/Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Bioética, Universidad Anáhuac, Mexico City, Mexico

    Sandra P. González-Santos

Authors
  1. Sandra P. González-Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

González-Santos, S.P. (2020). Managing Reproduction. In: A Portrait of Assisted Reproduction in Mexico. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23041-8_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23041-8_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-23040-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-23041-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation