Human egg “donations”
What is wrong with the lead sentence in this July 30 Fox5News story:
Now more than ever, women are donating their eggs to make ends meet.
The definition to “donate” is: “To present as a gift to a fund or cause; contribute.”
That, of course, is not what is happening. Women are being paid for their eggs, and handsomely. Continued the story…
Melissa, who declined to give her last name, admitted the main reason she’s donating eggs is because she’s struggling financially….
At the Center For Egg Options in IL, the number of women donating has increased significantly since April.
“There’s no reason to think that suddenly there’s 30% more people who have suddenly had this inner feeling to help out people and what’s changed, it’s the economy,” said fertility specialist Ed Marut.
Across the country, fertility centers have also seen a surge in repeat donors and surrogates….
“The donors will make in the area of $7,000, and the surrogates will make anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 plus,” said Nancy Block, founder of the Center For Egg Options….
Dr. Bruce Shapiro at the Fertility Center of Las Vegas said compensation is closer to $3,000 to $5,000.
Meanwhile, as JivinJ pointed out yesterday, cloning researchers are complaining about an egg shortage because laws in big human embryo experimentation states like CA and MA forbid egg selling for research, while allowing it for fertility clinics.
What’s the difference?
According to the San Francisco Chronicle
The restrictions are necessary, supporters say, to avoid creating a market for human eggs that encourages women to risk their health for speculative science….
Last month… CA… doled out $23 million in research grants but turned down all applications seeking funding for therapeutic cloning….
A main reason cited for the refusals: no guarantee of enough eggs.
Read the difference in articles describing the very same process of taking hormones and drugs to mature multiple eggs at one time for retrieval. First the article advocating egg donations for fertility reasons:
[Dr. Shapiro] said it is a fairly simple process that takes about 3 weeks.
“It’s more invasive than donating sperm, but still, it’s painless, and there’s more time involved, but we try to make it as smooth a process as possible,” Shapiro said.
He said the side effects of donation usually include some aches and cramps, similar to those of a woman’s period.
Then the article discussing egg donations for experimentation:
Critics of the egg-dependent approach to stem cells say the promise of the research is outweighed by the potential harm to women….
Even under normal doses, drugs used to coax eggs for use by fertilization clinics can occasionally lead to serious complications caused by excessive stimulation of the ovaries. In rare instances, the condition can be fatal.
Egg payments could also create a conflict of interest…. [D]octors responsible for the well-being of egg donors would also have a financial incentive to administer high doses of egg-stimulating drugs to produce as many eggs as possible.
There’s a major double standard here. Either egg “donations” are ethically right and not dangerous to and exploitive of women, or they’re wrong.
The answer is the latter.
U.S. Fertility clinics must be regulated as they are in other countries. There are gaping loopholes in the law right now.
As an outgrowth of the egg donation boom, I see fertility clinics fertilizing “leftover” eggs on purpose, and then crying they must be “donated” for human embryo experimentation or they’ll be wasted.
Or they and liberals will begin pushing the tired talking point that “leftover” eggs at fertility clinics will only be destroyed if not “donated” to science.
[First photo montage courtesy of EggDonation.com; second photo montage courtesy of FertilityBridge.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I believe that’s egg vendors…not donors.
DONATE: to make a gift of; especially : to contribute to a public or charitable cause2: to transfer (as electrons) to another atom or moleculeintransitive verb: to make a donation
VENDOR:One that sells or vends: a street vendor; a vendor of software products on the Web.
Hmmm…egg vendors, MK? Maybe I could be an egg vendor. You know, I could be one at the mall at one of those little carts selling my eggs. lol. Sounds like a promising career to me!
Vendor… vending machine?
And should I believe that NOT EVEN ONE of these fertility clinics is involved in shady dealings with researchers. Phhhht. Yeah.
Egg selling is the same exploitation as organ selling, which is illegal.
Do these women know that they’re selling their children to almost certain death? In vitro kills infinitely more children than are born.
Women selling body parts out of desperation should be as illegal as the crack addict willing to sell his kidney and bathe in an ice bath for a hit.
What a sick exploitation of women!
why would a couple want somebody elses eggs?
then it wouldn’t be have the adopting Mom’s genes correct?
Egg selling is the same exploitation as organ selling, which is illegal.
Do these women know that they’re selling their children to almost certain death? In vitro kills infinitely more children than are born.
Women selling body parts out of desperation should be as illegal as the crack addict willing to sell his kidney and bathe in an ice bath for a hit.
What a sick exploitation of women!
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 1, 2008 3:38 PM
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So, now ovum are children and ovum are body parts? What happened to ‘life begins at conception’ and ‘it’s a seperate body’?
Are you equally outraged by men selling their sperm? Do men know that most sperm meet almost certain death no matter how or why it’s donated?
C’mon Jill, you gotta show the real Fertility Bridges image!
Well, I think what Jacqueline meant is that these eggs will be fertilized at some point and then they will be babies. As eggs they are not human beings, just as sperm are not.
BTW, I against the selling of both eggs and/or sperm. It is demeaning to both sexes and I think it shows a lack of respect for the body and for the person.
AI has already reaped it’s nest of difficulties with some men now learning that they have fathered a considerable number of children – an idea they never really considered. Also, some children fathered through AI have been born with disabilities or genetic diseases. Of course the commodification of sperm and eggs leads to the same with children. It’s the idea that you’ve paid for this product only to have an imperfect result (gasp!).
Cranky, LOL! thats great..
oh CC that’s soooo funny.
I’m gonna get Simmons000!!! I did not know he was a vendor!
Welcome to the brave new world of high tech micro human parts trade where the only control is the principle of supply and demand. Forget medical ethics and do not even mention morality–these have no place in the equation.
CC – as usual, awesome!
So, now ovum are children and ovum are body parts?
No- fertilized eggs are children. Eggs are body parts. Sperm is also a body part that becomes a child when it meets with an egg. I likewise oppose sperm selling.
When are you going to see the difference between a fertilized eggs that will grow and grow until a natural death, many of which die as elderly people of old age, and a egg/sperm that never combined with it’s counterpart to make a human life?
What happened to ‘life begins at conception’ and ‘it’s a seperate body’?
There’s no conception in retrieving eggs from ovaries.
Are you equally outraged by men selling their sperm?
I believe I just said that.
However, sperm donation has no physical substantial physical risk to the man and his fertility and men aren’t paid the enormous sums which attract desperate women. I’d dare to say that many men would masturbate into a cup for nothing more than the free porn and a bag of cheetos. Notice women only “donate” their eggs when they are paid thousands of dollars.
Do men know that most sperm meet almost certain death no matter how or why it’s donated?
Who cares if sperm die? Sperm die daily and are reabsorbed if not ejaculated. I lose at least one egg a month. I don’t care if my eggs die. Eggs and sperm are not people until they combine.
I wonder how many baby purchasers demand their money back? I mean, they paid top dollar for some eggs from a beautiful women with a high SAT score and college degree and they end up having an ugly child that can’t determine the difference between their butt and a hole in the ground.
I can just see a parent marching their substandard half-child into the fertility clinic and demanding their money back for giving them a less-than-perfect child. Imagine the therapy bills.
Jacqueline,
There will probably be lawsuits as well, unless the egg vendors make the buyers sign a disclaimer up front!
I wonder how many baby purchasers demand their money back? I mean, they paid top dollar for some eggs from a beautiful women with a high SAT score and college degree and they end up having an ugly child that can’t determine the difference between their butt and a hole in the ground.
I can just see a parent marching their substandard half-child into the fertility clinic and demanding their money back for giving them a less-than-perfect child. Imagine the therapy bills.
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 1, 2008 5:55 PM
WEll Jacqueline, do you remember the British WHITE couple that got BLACK twins when the wrong sperm was used?!!
I wonder how many baby purchasers demand their money back?
Probably a very low percentage.
And you can’t blame people who want kids but can’t have them themselves for going the surrogate route.
So, now ovum are children and ovum are body parts?
No- fertilized eggs are children. Eggs are body parts. Sperm is also a body part that becomes a child when it meets with an egg. I likewise oppose sperm selling.
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 1, 2008 5:51 PM
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You have expandened the definitions of ‘baby’ and ‘child’ so far and so genericly, they have lost rational meanings.
The big bang concept of children/babies coming into being the instant a sperm penetrates an ovum is ludicrous.
Ovum are as much a body part as is a fertilized ovum, embryo or fetus.
When are you going to see the difference between a fertilized eggs that will grow and grow until a natural death, many of which die as elderly people of old age, and a egg/sperm that never combined with it’s counterpart to make a human life?
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 1, 2008 5:51 PM
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When are you going to understand that ‘growing’ essential body parts to the point of possesion of the ability to live as a human being is not the same as getting bigger or getting older?
With your criteria, those born but incapable of mental learning or attaing physical stature are not human beings.
“The big bang concept of children/babies coming into being the instant a sperm penetrates an ovum is ludicrous.”
“Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilized ovum (zygote). … The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual.” (Carlson, Bruce M., Patten’s Foundations of Embryology, 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996, p.3.)
“The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote.” [Langman, Jan. Medical Embryology. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1975, p. 3]
“Zygote. This cell, formed by the union of an ovum and a sperm (Gr. zygtos, yoked together), represents the beginning of a human being.” [Moore, Keith L. and Persaud, T.V.N. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. 4th edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1993, p. 1]
“Although human life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed. … The combination of 23 chromosomes present in each pronucleus results in 46 chromosomes in the zygote. Thus the diploid number is restored and the embryonic genome is formed. The embryo now exists as a genetic unity.” (O’Rahilly, Ronan and M
Posted by: Bobby Bambino at August 1, 2008 8:02 PM
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Did you have a point Bobby? According to your pinched bits and pieces, conception is the beginning of development for a new life. In the embryonic stage, it’s developing support systems are seperated from the host.
Is it capable of living seperate of the host? No it is not.
You wanna call an embryo a child or a baby. Knock yourself out. But tell me something honestly Bobby. If your baby died tomorrow, would you personally feel it the same thing as a conception that never implanted or an embryo ceasing to develop?
Did you have a point Bobby? According to your pinched bits and pieces, conception is the beginning of development for a new life. In the embryonic stage, it’s developing support systems are seperated from the host.Is it capable of living seperate of the host? No it is not.
So what? What’s your point? It is still a human being with human DNA and completely a separate individual from Bobby and his wife.
You wanna call an embryo a child or a baby. Knock yourself out. But tell me something honestly Bobby. If your baby died tomorrow, would you personally feel it the same thing as a conception that never implanted or an embryo ceasing to develop?
Well Sally first of all Bobby’s wife would not know if a fertilized egg failed to implant (as this would happen prior to her missing her period ) and therefore would not be able to grieve over the loss of this child. However, if somehow she could know, then I’m sure she would react as most mother’s do when they miscarry at 3 or 4 wks or 10 or 12 wks or 20 wks… She would grieve for the loss of a child.
Ovum are as much a body part as is a fertilized ovum, embryo or fetus.
Posted by: Sally at August 1, 2008 7:50 PM
This statement tells me that you do not understand your body nor do you understand basic human reproductive biology. Either that or you live in a fantasy world in order to accomodate your beliefs, behaviours etc.
“Did you have a point Bobby?”
Yes. Only those who wish to justify abortion feel the need to come up with this dualistic notion about how a human organism can be alive and human but not a person.
“If your baby died tomorrow, would you personally feel it the same thing as a conception that never implanted or an embryo ceasing to develop?”
My “feelings” don’t matter. The reality is that it is human being with dignity and moral worth. I base my beliefs of reason and science, not emotion or feelings.
My “feelings” don’t matter. The reality is that it is human being with dignity and moral worth. I base my beliefs of reason and science, not emotion or feelings.
Posted by: Bobby Bambino at August 1, 2008 8:50 PM
Defended like a man! Well done!
I took the woman’s route! :-D
I’m a mom via egg donation, and if it hadn’t been for my egg donor I wouldn’t have my amazing son who I love more than anything in the world.
I am not sure if there is an easy answer right now. I will venture to say that it’s the wild wild west out there right now regarding egg donation agencies, egg brokers, and no real rules or regulation on compensation for egg donation.
The law states you can’t buy and sell tissue, but what the law doesn’t state is that you can compensate for a persons time, pain, and inconvienience. So that’s how egg donors receive money for egg donation.
ASRM and SART have guidelines stating what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate regarding compensation, and all agencies are required to acknowlege, agree to and sign.
The problem is — some agencies are greedy and may sign the document but don’t abide by the guidlines and continue to find loopholes — such as loss wages, (if a donor is receiving 5k a month, why does she need loss wages as well?) ridiuclous and over the top travel expenses. Egg donors typically receive a modest stipe end per day (75.00) their travel (air fare, car rental, transfers, taxi’s etc.) are paid for, as well as hotel accomodations for them and their support person. In some instances donors receive money to pay for childcare. Some agencies ask for ridiculous reimbursments such as boarding a pet, or a house sitter to come housesit and water plants. I have seen some pretty crazy demands over the years.
Basically we ask who is being exploited? The recipient parents? Or the egg donors? I think both. Somewhere along the line the alteristic part about this gave out to the serious money that was to be made — and someone got the idea that it was okay to ask 10, 12, 15, 25, or even 35k for a stinking egg. And we as a society didn’t push back and say “Uh no, that’s not okay and we won’t pay” — when it comes to matters of the heart and wanting a child so very badly it’s hard to say no.
…someone got the idea that it was okay to ask 10, 12, 15, 25, or even 35k for a stinking egg.
But that egg got you a baby!
Just curious how many treatments did you go through mvedmom, before you were successful?
I just read an article about infertility blogs on the internet.
I checked your link to the site parentsviaeggdonationl.org. Very interesting mvedmom. Thanks for the link.
My “feelings” don’t matter. The reality is that it is human being with dignity and moral worth. I base my beliefs of reason and science, not emotion or feelings.
Posted by: Bobby Bambino at August 1, 2008 8:50 PM
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Feelings don’t matter? Of course they do. You feel there is a god so there is one. Between opposing beliefs in that god, you feel one more true to your feelings than the other.
How you feel is directly related to your personal perceptions and beliefs.
You can’t admit that you would be crushed if your baby died and merely dissapointed if an embryo ceased to evolve. Why? Because your current position in philosophy/reason holds that all life is equal when you know/feel that to be untrue?
And you can’t blame people who want kids but can’t have them themselves for going the surrogate route.
Don’t give me that crap. You absolutely can blame people so selfish in their desire for an infant that they’ll exploit women and kill children to get what they want, especially considering that children wait in foster care for parents and most exit the system never finding a mom or dad.
Infertility is devasting on more levels than I can begin to count. It’s a loss that people must grieve on a regular basis. It’s not fair at all, opens people up to some much ridiculous scrutiny and violation of privacy. It sucks and I don’t underestimate that pain. Potential adoptive parents are encouraged to get help working through the losses. I helped with this as a social work intern.
I hurt for those that are infertile. I can only hope my teen-onset endometriosis didn’t scar me too bad, but if it did, I wouldn’t kill babies to get a baby and exploit vulnerable people in the process. I would mourn the loss, pray daily for a reversal, keep trying and pursue adopting a child who needs a home just as I would if I had biological children. And not this 25,000 a pop white baby stuff since millions of couples who won’t/can’t adopt another race of special need fight over those children, but older children who need parents just as badly.
Wanting something badly doesn’t justify killing and stepping on people to get it, Doug.
You feel there is a god so there is one.
Wow! I have the almighty power to change reality with my feelings!
I feel like you, Sally, are actually a hairy man that rubs peanut butter on yourself and chants in Hebrew. Since my feelings determine reality, I suggust the creamy peanut butter rather than the crunchy for that sort of thing.
and someone got the idea that it was okay to ask 10, 12, 15, 25, or even 35k for a stinking egg.
Per egg? But you have to implant five at a time for a 25% chance that one will live, and even that baby has a higher risk of miscarrying.
You feel there is a god so there is one.
Wow! I have the almighty power to change reality with my feelings!
I feel like you, Sally, are actually a hairy man that rubs peanut butter on yourself and chants in Hebrew. Since my feelings determine reality, I suggust the creamy peanut butter rather than the crunchy for that sort of thing.
Posted by: Jacqueline at August 1, 2008 11:28 PM
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Thanks for sharing your sexual fantasies Jacq. Would you like for me to be a man chanting in Hebrew and spreading creamy peanut butter all over my hairy body? Of course not.
You find men as sexually repulsive as peanut butter unpalatable.
You find men as sexually repulsive as peanut butter unpalatable.
I find certain men sexually repulsive. I find other men absolutely delicious. Likewise, I find peanut butter delicious (I went to college. It’s a staple. Like Top Ramen. You develop a taste for it when there’s nothing else around).
Are you implying that my choice not to have sex is because I don’t find men attractive? Is it beyond your grasp that some people can control themselves, treat others and self with respect, and make choices that are the best ones for their bodies, minds, emotions and children? Just because you can’t control yourself and/or exercise good judgement doesn’t imply that others can’t or that they have no sexual attractions.
Man, it takes considerable effort to concoct the rationalizations you need to justify your behavior, from newly-conceived children being just another body part to believing that only those who find men unattractive can choice to save sex. You think this justifies both killing the newly-conceived and having sex with whomever you find attractive. It doesn’t. It’s disgusting and wrong no matter how you slice it.
Jacq,
You go, girl!
Sally,
You’re equivocating with the word “feel.” When I used it above, it was in the clear context of emotion and an inner subjective experience. This is also how you used “feel” when you asked me about my daughter vs. an embryo that failed to implant. You asked about the way I would subjectively handle it in my inner being.
Now you use the word “feel” to mean belief when you criticize the fact that I say feelings don’t matter. Beliefs can be based on sense experience and rational, which is different than an inner subjective emotional response. The former is what I base the existence of God and the sacredness of human life on, not warm fuzzy feelings. You switched uses of the word “feel” in the middle of the conversation.
A large part of the misunderstanding here is because people ignore the fact that fertilization and conception are one and the same.
Once an egg is fertilized, meaning the egg and sperm unite, a new living human being is created. The fact that this new life must implant in the uterus to survive is irrelevant to the reality of its existence. It’s alive before it even implants!
This is biology 101. Whatever you all learned since the legalization of abortion is lies created to perpetuate the abortion mentality.
Amen, Janet.
I think you guys (esp. Jacqueline – you rock sister!) put Sally to bed on this one!
Thanks, ladies. :)
Cranky Catholic, 4:34, you are so funny!
And you can’t blame people who want kids but can’t have them themselves for going the surrogate route.
Don’t give me that crap.
(Okay,let’s try this once again…:)
“And you can’t blame people who want kids but can’t have them themselves for going the surrogate route.”
Jaqueline: Don’t give me that crap.
Okay, you say you hurt for those who are infertile — thus I say let then have the kids they want. Not that big a deal.
Egg donation is this country is highly regulated by the FDA; people who believe it is a “wild west” don’t know the first thing about it. The ASRM establishes clear and thoughtful ethical guidelines for egg donation that all legitimate clinics follow.
Egg donors are compensated for their time and effort, not for eggs.
For the real facts and genuine (not sensationalized) statistics on egg donation, go to the Websites of the ASRM, SART, and the CDC.
For practical information on how egg donation works, go to http://www.assistedfertility.com.
Egg donors are compensated for their time and effort, not for eggs.
Posted by: Egg Donor Program Director at August 6, 2008 5:46 PM
Just like when you buy a dozen eggs at the store. You are paying for the time and effort of the store manager and not for the eggs.
What about this true life fact. My daughter has not only donated eggs but has been a surrogate with her own egg many times. My family and her dad’s family suffer from intense alcoholism, mental illness and obesity. I have already seen one granddaughter go down in flames from addiction. The people adopting these eggs or her children are not informed about this fact. If they were they would run the other way. Buyer Beware!