Sociodemographic features of procreative behavior in the routine use of assisted reproductive technologies

The article describes the first results of an electronic survey of Moscow and Novosibirsk university students and postgraduates in April-May 2021. The analysis of 106 questionnaires showed that 74.7 % of the respondents (among whom 67.9 % are aged from 18 to 20 years, ⅔ are female, ¾ live in cities, 92.9 % are not married) want to have children, and every fifth of them - three ones. 91.8 % of the respondents believe that their individual health will not prevent them from implementing these plans, and they consider assisted reproductive technologies to be «a chance for people who are not able to have a child naturally to become parents». Awareness of specific ART programs varies: 81.2 % know about surrogacy, 75.3 % - about sperm donation, but only 55.3 % - about egg donation, 51.8 % - about cryopreservation of reproductive material, 49.4 % - about ICSI, while only 31.8 % - about long-used artificial insemination and 28.2 % - about the relatively new technology of embryo donation. For the majority of the respondents this is «abstract» knowledge since ¾ of them have not heard of real cases of applying assisted reproduction among their relatives and acquaintances. 56.5 % of the respondents are ready to use in vitro fertilization themselves if natural pregnancy and childbirth turn out to be contraindicated or physically impossible. However, ⅔ of the respondents deny the possibility of using more «morally complex» programs related to reproductive donation and surrogacy. These results allow us to speak of new sociocultural procreative norms due to the fundamental possibility of medicalization of reproductive processes. However, this makes the conception and gestation procedures dependent on organizational resources and the stability of the public health system.