‘Fallow’ Explores A World Where Big Tech Has Disrupted Pregnancy

The practice of surrogacy can be said to date back to the Bible; in Genesis 16, Abram is promised descendants by God, but his wife Sarah is unable to conceive. Sarah then instructs Abram to lay with her handmaid, who is then able to bear his child and fulfill God’s promise. This story begins at the issue of infertility. Yet the practice today has evolved to address a myriad of motivations: the pro-natalism push, the desire to preserve one’s body, gay couples endeavoring to start a family. The heightened demand for surrogates has fueled a robust industry, including reduced-cost options via agencies that have sourced surrogates specifically in “countries blighted by poverty”. One novel motivation for using a surrogate that has emerged is that of some form of careerism. Celebrities like Lucy Liu, who cited the pace of her career as her reason, have welcomed children via surrogates. Carrying and delivering your own children is beginning to join the ranks of services that can be outsourced to others out of sheer convenience. Sarah Anderson’s shrewd, satirical debut novel Fallow follows a woman named Natalie who is employed at a workplace grievance call center. She comes across a mysteriously lucrative opportunity: a position with a tech company called “The Company” offering a “GENEROUS SALARY WITH BENEFITS,” the only apparent requirements being a “healthy lifestyle, birthing hips, and discretion.” After a few white lies regarding substance use in the job interview, Natalie receives an offer from The Company to participate in their Genesis program. The program was conceived by The Company to combat the decreased emotional investment and productivity associated with maternity leave, allowing for female executives to instead employ an in-house surrogate. Natalie’s contract renders her responsible for seven viable pregnancies over the course of 10 years, while not disclosing the nature of her vocation to any of her personal associates. At the end, she is entitled to up to $60,000 in desired “reconstructive” surgery. Natalie, dazzled by the salary and the idea of freedom from the tedium of conventional work, signs the contract. Natalie’s existence goes on to consist of becoming an optimal body to carry the babies of various female executives. She spends her days walking “aimlessly” on her treadmill, getting driven to the doctor, chiropractor, and acupuncturist, watching foreign language films for the fetus to internalize. Her first pregnancy and delivery go smoothly, largely unconcerning up to her physical postpartum symptoms of hives and severe body odor, which abate after a few weeks until she feels like a “looser, wetter version of herself.” An employee thanks Natalie, bemoaning her first terrible first pregnancy and her “relief” towards Genesis as a program.

Read it at Defector ↗

← Front page