In Ariel Sullivan’s Conform, the Illum regime grounds its authority in controlling female bodies and reproduction. The government reduces women to biological resources whose value depends on fertility and genetic compatibility. This system calculated procreation and violation of women’s reproductive rights and freedom of choice functions as the core of the state’s pursuit of genetic purity and authoritarian rule. The narrative illustrates that the government implements such oppressive reproduction policies through indoctrination at the Academy, the threat of social exile for women who fail to fulfill their reproductive “duties,”  and the brutal and forcible separation between mothers and their children.

The Academy, as the state-managed educational institution, shapes and reinforces reproductive oppression from childhood. Teachers coach young girls to view procreation as a competitive public duty rather than a personal choice. Lessons present mating as a service to society’s “Greater Good,” and instructors repeat that a girl’s purpose is to become a “compliant vessel for offspring” (8). Competition grows from this training, since every female student aims for a limited number of Procreation Agreements with Elite males. Emeline’s “Approved” label marks her as useful to the state while reinforcing her objectification and limiting her individual agency. The Starlings who prepare her for her Mate echo this message when they tell her, “You are a vessel for humanity” (24). Their language replaces her individual identity with a state-defined role that ultimately serves to preserve the established social hierarchy.

A stark system of reward and punishment sustains this structure. Women who meet their reproductive expectations enjoy brief access to Elite privileges that encourage further obedience and submission. Those who fail to conceive or bear a desirable child go to the Sanctuary, the place of mothers’ ostracization, on the outskirts of the city. After giving birth, they lose contact with their children and are “deposited among those in blue” (23), which erases their social presence. This threat makes Emeline treat her Procreation Agreement as a high‑stakes performance, since any failure means she will face social marginalization.

The regime’s claim over female lives and the policing of motherhood appear most brutally during the “Parting,” the policy where the Elite Force seizes young children from mothers at the Sanctuary. Emeline watches soldiers abduct screaming children from their mothers and knock one woman unconscious when she resists. This moment shows how the Illum places its agenda above any family connection, purposefully seeking to sever familial bonds. By breaking the tie between mother and child, the state asserts ownership over the next generation and reveals its dehumanizing methods.