Assisted Reproduction Technologies and Intergenerational Citizenship

The rapid and global spread of assisted reproduction technologies (ART) generates concrete problems related to children’ access to citizenship and raises important questions about the normative justifications of birthright citizenship. This paper examines how cases of inadequate regulation of citizenship in the context of ART births challenge the normative model of intergenerational citizenship. The ever-growing literature about citizenship as admission to membership focuses nearly exclusively on naturalisation while neglecting the more prevalent type of admission to citizenship, namely through birth from citizens and birth in the territory. After discussing several key empirical cases of ART and citizenship, the paper re-assesses key normative claims about the links between birth, reproduction, family and citizenship (e.g. the obligation to avoid statelessness, the need to protect constitutive family relationships, the need to ensure the stability of the political community or to ensure the survival of ethno-national projects). It challenges the norm of automatic intergenerational citizenship by arguing for a clearer delineation between family relationships and the bond of citizenship. Whereas family ties should play a role in the acquisition of citizenship (e.g. as indicators of a special connection), they should not constitute the only or the primary normative ground for admission.