IVF for Fat Patients within NHS England: a Q&A with Manna Mostaghim
IVF for Fat Patients within NHS England
Manna Mostaghim is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Policy
Someone else’s definition of morality should not act as gatekeeper to healthcare – a patient’s consent and clinical need should dictate access to healthcare.
What are you currently researching?
I’m a PhD candidate on the provision of IVF for Fat Patients within NHS England. My PhD research examines the relationship between fertility policies in the NHS and weight stigma in healthcare.
I research the politics of sexual and reproductive health in the UK through the Reproductive Justice framework. I identify how access and rights are shaped by the frameworks and institutions governing contraception and assisted reproductive treatments (including IVF) within the NHS.
Beyond my PhD, I also do research, and work, on the access to abortion, the incidences of birth trauma and the data privacy protections around FemTech in the UK.
Why did you choose this area of study?
Sexual and reproductive health policy directly affects people’s wellbeing. Yet an individual’s access to sexual and reproductive health treatment can be constrained by social norms.
Someone else’s definition of morality should not act as gatekeeper to healthcare – a patient’s consent and clinical need should dictate access to healthcare.
How will your research have a wider impact on society? Real-world examples?
My research aims to inform fairer reproductive healthcare policy and practice. It will highlight where policy decisions may be limiting access in ways that are not clinically justified and may disproportionately affect marginalised groups like Fat Patients.
Real-world impact examples include:
· Breaking the taboo and negative associations with the word fat. To reclaim it within the academy, to normalise the use of the world Fat in clinical settings without the need to pathologise and solve fatness before a patient can access healthcare.
· Supporting evidence-based debate on whether BMI-based IVF restrictions align with equality and human rights principles.
· Contributing to public and advocacy discussions on reproductive justice and weight stigma in healthcare.
What have been the highlights of your research work so far?
Highlights include conducting research on sexual and reproductive health provision through my PhD as well as working alongside external organisations such as Decolonising Contraception and Abortion Rights.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
One major challenge is navigating how politically and emotionally charged reproductive health topics can be for people that are impacted. Especially when research findings connect directly to lived experience, inequality, and contested public debates.
People will often corner me at dinner parties and tell me of their experience with inequitable and traumatic treatments – because of their desperation to be heard on things that are taboo and stigmatised in wider society. It is difficult to meaningfully give voice to their anguish and balance it with compliance to strictures of required research protocols.
What advice would you give prospective students on approaching research and managing stress?
Share work early with peers and supervisors. Research becomes less stressful when it’s collaborative.
Remember that your project will evolve; progress is messy – and community can lighten the load.
In a few words, what is the best thing about studying at LSE?
Your pals.