Conceiving Christian America - (Anthropologies of American Medicine: Culture, Power, and Pra) by Risa Cromer (Paperback)

About the Book

"An insider's look at a powerful social movement that aims to transform how we think about frozen human embryos, reproductive politics, and the future of the nation"--

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2024 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology

How embryo adoption advances the Christian Right's political goals for creating a Christian nation

In 1997, a group of white pro-life evangelical Christians in the United States created the nation's first embryo adoption program to "save" the thousands of frozen human embryos remaining from assisted reproduction procedures, which they contend are unborn children. While a small part of US fertility services, embryo adoption has played an outsized role in conservative politics, from high-profile battles over public investment in human embryonic stem cell research to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Based on six years of ethnographic research with embryo adoption staff and participants, Risa Cromer uncovers how embryo adoption advances ambitious political goals for expanding the influence of conservative Christian values and power.

Conceiving Christian America is the first book on embryo adoption tracing how this powerful social movement draws on white saviorist tropes in their aims to reconceive personhood, with drastic consequences for reproductive rights and justice. Documenting the practices, narratives, and beliefs that move embryos from freezers to uteruses, this book wields anthropological wariness as a tool for confronting the multiple tactics of the Christian Right. Timely and provocative, Conceiving Christian America presents a bold and nuanced examination of a family-making process focused on conceiving a Christian nation.

Review Quotes

"Cromer's writing is clear and compelling. She has clearly taken pains to use language that will be accessible to many audiences: while she draws on a broad range of anthropological scholarship, the book is nearly jargonless. Conceiving Christian America will find a place in courses for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates across anthropology and related fields."-- "American Ethnologist"

"Timely and illuminating, Cromer's book lands in a post-Dobbs United States grappling to understand the loss of reproductive rights and the rise of right-wing leaders. The book carefully parses the white nationalist ideologies that undergird a scarcely known movement representing a powerful threat to abortion and other reproductive rights. The wariness that Cromer models in this fraught moment is indispensable."-- "Politics, Religion & Ideology"

"Cromer's book skillfully situates embryo adoption programs within broader White Christian evangelical political trends. She points out how these political goals motivate programs run primarily by women who envision their roles as matching needy embryos with altruistic intended parents. Extensive fieldwork provides ample evidence to support Cromer's nuanced conclusions and to illustrate the varied perspectives of donors, program staff, and adoptive families."-- "Center for Genetics and Society"

"Conceiving Christian America would be excellent material for courses in anthropology, sociology, and American studies, and some religious studies, gender studies, and political science courses; it will appeal to scholars across these fields and curious lay readers as well. It is nuanced and peopled with interesting characters, many of whom transcend chapters and evolve through their encounters with the contradictions of this world ... will open the eyes of many different readers."-- "American Anthropologist"

"Conceiving Christian America helps us better understand the political landscape of our post-Dobbs world, in which we see conservative denominations and state legislatures speaking against IVF for reasons similar to those of many of the embryo adoption proponents Cromer describes. Her mapping of the Right's reproductive politics, and her reminder that these new positions are anything but, give us the tools to better teach our present."-- "Reading Religion"

"The book is rich with ethnographic insights, historical context, applications to sociological and anthropological concepts, and implications for the current political landscape in the United States."-- "Gender & Society"

"Cromer emphasizes her encounters with many individuals who support embryo adoption yet reject these associations-and in fact draw on their faith tradition to oppose these distorted values. Her final reflections, however, invite us to a more sobering conclusion: the entrenched patterns of white innocence and white saviorism operating in embryo adoption fuel the larger project of the far right, which has greater ambitions and threatens devastating consequences."-- "Center for Genetics and Society"

"A stunning portrait of how the reproductive politics of 'saving' embryos is closely tied to contemporary right-wing politics of 'saving' lives through abortion bans. A must-read."--Marcia Inhorn, author of Motherhood on Ice: The Mating Gap and Why Women Freeze Their Eggs

"Beautifully written and thoroughly researched. Conceiving Christian America is a brilliant tribute to the tradition of feminist cultural analysis out of which it emerges. This book will surely become an instant classic."--Sarah Franklin, Director, Reproductive Sociology Research Group, University of Cambridge

"Brimming with riveting stories . . . Cromer presents a compelling look inside a growing social movement that aims to transform how we think about embryos, reproduction, and the nation. Conceiving Christian America offers invaluable insight for clinicians and policymakers, andmakes a powerful contribution to feminist social science on the reproductive politics of American conservatism."--Lynn Morgan, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Mount Holyoke College

"Remarkable and timely. . . . Cromer brings nuance and sophistication to understanding what lies behind the polarizing politics of the culture wars around reproduction in America."--Faye Ginsburg, co-editor, Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction

About the Author

Risa Cromer is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University.