Bodies Bridging Borders

Abstract What is legal may not necessarily be considered moral (and vice versa). I would like to pick up the theme of borders as both bridges and boundaries by looking at the movement of bodies and 'body bits' across them. This paper begins a review of the literature on the trajectories of biological bodies and bodily substances in biomedical procedures. It will focus on how boundaries between countries facilitate access to advanced biotechnologies such as IVF (in vitro fertilisation), with or without the use donated gametes or embryos. It places the specific examples of what has been called ‘reproductive tourism’ within a broader field of medical migrations. What is disallowed (not permitted) in one country may not only be allowed but actively encouraged (in the form of 'medical tourism') in another. In this sense, borders act as bridges across which people requiring various biomedical interventions travel. I draw on the ethnographic example of Lebanon where no national legislation allows many women, who would otherwise find IVF prohibited through religious injunctions, access to fertility services.