Politics, law and a lack of sperm: single women and fertility treatment in the Swedish health system

Abstract

In 2016 Swedish law was amended to allow single women to access fertility treatment with donor sperm. In this paper, based on interviews, document analysis and autoethnographic insights, I examine the implementation of this law using human rights approaches, specifically the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality framework (AAAQ Framework). While the law extended the scope of reproductive rights, the health system was unprepared. Five years on, women seek care in the private sector or continue to travel abroad due in large part to waiting times which can be up to four years in some regions. The paper also provides a meeting point between anthropology and policy analysis. The law change provides a pathway for analyzing the Swedish health system and political context, particularly the relationships between the private and public sectors and between different regions, and the balance of responsibility between national and regional levels. While many of the challenges are unique to the Swedish context, they also offer lessons for countries which have or are considering expanding access to fertility treatment for single women and other patient groups, thus demonstrating the importance of ethnographic approaches in health policy analysis.