The Missing Conversation: Feminism, Fertility Literacy, and Inclusive Pathways to Parenthood
By Cheri Bergeron, Author of Mission: Motherhood, Founder of Cheri’s Choice
Contemporary feminist discourse has significantly expanded access to education, careers, and reproductive autonomy. Yet a critical gap remains. Individuals are not adequately equipped with the knowledge, resources, or institutional support to plan for parenthood with the same intentionality applied to professional advancement. True empowerment requires more than the ability to delay or avoid parenthood—it requires informed, proactive decision-making about if, when, and how to pursue it, across a diverse range of identities and family structures. Despite cultural progress, fertility literacy remains limited, and dominant narratives continue to frame parenthood as secondary to career development or contingent upon traditional partnership.
These gaps disproportionately impact not only women, but also LGBTQ+ individuals, single parents by choice, and others who must navigate complex, often costly pathways to parenthood.For these populations, family-building frequently depends on assisted reproduction, donor conception, or surrogacy—yet access to these options remains uneven, under-discussed, and insufficiently supported by both policy and cultural frameworks.
Drawing on the author’s personal experience with infertility and the advocacy work of Cheri’s Choice, this session examines how biological realities, social expectations, and structural inequities converge to shape reproductive outcomes. It highlights the growing disconnect between individuals’ intentions to build families and their ability to do so within existing systems.
Our session will analyze how legal and policy frameworks have failed to evolve alongside these shifts. Through the lens of a landmark Texas custody case (Bergeron v. Saunders), it demonstrates how outdated doctrines—such as presumed parenthood—can undermine reproductive autonomy and expose non-traditional families, including LGBTQ+ parents, to legal vulnerability.
We need a new framework—one that integrates fertility education, inclusive family-building pathways, and equitable access to reproductive technologies. By reframing parenthood as a domain requiring the same level of planning, visibility, and institutional support as career development, this talk invites scholars and advocates to reconsider what meaningful empowerment looks like in an era of diverse and evolving families.
About Cheri Bergeron:
Cheri Bergeron is a former tech executive and entrepreneur turned bestselling author, speaker, trained life coach, and founder of the nonprofit Cheri's Choice. Following her ten-year struggle with infertility that involved multiple rounds of IVF, donor conception, genetic defects, and child loss, she successfully gave birth to her children at the ages of 44 and 46. Driven by these experiences, Cheri wrote the #1 Amazon bestseller Mission: Motherhood to let women know they aren’t alone in this struggle. Through her nonprofit, Cheri now helps hopeful parents navigate non traditional paths to parenthood on their own terms—with clarity, confidence, and choice. She lives with her beautiful, unconventional family in Austin, Texas.