When I was an undergraduate student at Arizona State University a prominent professor blurted out of nowhere that the girls should sell their eggs to pay for college, especially if they were tall and blonde. I was taken aback at the boldness and nonchalant manner of her suggestion. At the time I didn’t further investigate if this was actually prudent or maybe some sort of joke. With this blog I’ve discovered that everything the professor advised to the female students was accurate. As you can see there is quite a bit of money that can be made for the right type of donors. Yes, this professor was serious.
As noted there can be serious ethical and health concerns or absolutely none at all. The ASU professor was either making small talk as a pragmatic way to pay for college or was going out on a limb by being reckless and totally devoid of any of the consequences of selling your genetic information for quick cash. I thought it was unacceptable either way to make such a suggestion in class.
While the allure of donating is understandable, there are some that are concerned that the only reason why couples are buying eggs is to produce trophy children. Just like a shiny new sports car, lavish house or shiny jewelry, these children may just be something to show off to their peers, not to truly love and adore. Other people have made the claim that this is designer eugenics since specific traits are understandably more desired. Others may argue adoption should be considered first.
Another problem I see is what will happen if the child doesn’t turn out as expected? There is no guarantee they will be tall, intelligent, have artistic talent or be athletic. That is what is so fascinating about life; you don’t always know what you will get.
I am going to put myself out there and divulge a little personal information about myself. I actually have a lot of knowledge on this topic, since I myself was an egg donor a few years ago. Just to be clear, not all of us do it for the money. Yes, it does pay well, but nobody should go in to this type of process and commitment for those reasons. I actually had someone really close to me struggle to get pregnant when I was in high school, and had to watch them go through the process of finding a donor. The struggle they went through, as well as my interest in reproductive biology led me to make the decision to get involved in the process and help out where I could. I find myself very humble and grateful to have been able to help out six families conceive and give birth to children when they previously were unable to. It was such an amazing experience to go through and I would not change it for anything. It can be a very grueling process, which includes many shots you have to give yourself multiple times every day. This is one of the reasons I firmly believe it should not be about the money. But when it all came down to it, receiving the calls that the mother got pregnant or that a baby was born was definitely worth everything I went through. When I was at UC Davis, they would actually advertise in our school newspaper and try to recruit girls to become egg donors. This always bothered me, and as it sounds like in your post, bothered you as well. I have known a few people who have done it just for the extra money and it never did sit well with me.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very sensitive topic that seems to bring personal values and motives into question. I can imagine how nice it would be to find out you can have children because someone chose to become an egg donor. I don't think the donor's motive to donate eggs would make much of a difference to the receiving party. Donating eggs for the sole purpose of monetary gains doesn't sit right with me either but could be the way a single mother is able to feed her kids. Such a noble gesture as donating plasma or eggs or any kind of life creating or sustaining matter could simply be viewed as a way to make money for people that don't have many money making options. Isn't it interesting how scientific advances create moral questions we never would have imagined years ago?
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about the sale of human eggs. I object more to the use of eggs for fertilization than for other research. Maybe it is odd, but I take pride and am protective of the genetic material that I possess. When I look at my children, I see my parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, and other people that I care about. To me, it seems like the sale of genetic material for fertilization is disrespectful to a person’s heritage in a way. The sale of human eggs is an interesting subject. I know that there are a lot of different opinions and no easy answers.
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