2024/11/11 by Holly Patch, Manuel Bolz, Mona Motakef +1 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Psychology · #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Race, Genetics, and Society #Reproductive Health and Technologies
paper · doi:10.17169/ogj.2026.341
openalex publication_date 2024/11/11 · openalex created_date 2026/07/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/16
This article examines how cisheteronormativity and reproductive injustices shape trans* people’s life-course timing, reproductive autonomy, and self-determination in healthcare and legal systems. Despite reforms like Germany’s Self-Determination Act, significant barriers to reproductive rights remain. In this article, we extend the reproductive justice framework to include epistemic injustice and draw upon our secondary analysis of narrative interviews from three qualitative studies of trans* lives. Our findings show that the institutionalized cisheteronormative life course marginalizes trans* individuals, constraining their access to medical care, parenthood, and gendered becoming. They face testimonial and hermeneutical injustices and often live asynchronously to normative timelines. Achieving reproductive justice thus requires dismantling cisnormative assumptions and building inclusive systems that support diverse temporalities, non-linear life paths, and kinship networks.