I just read an essay in my literature book the other day about women who sell their eggs for lots of money. It was in the "technology and ethics" section, of course! I don't know what I think of the whole thing, but I wanted to see what you women think of it, or if you have an opinion at all. Wrong? Right? Unhealthy? Individual choice? Would you sell your eggs? The one thing that bothers me a little is how the parents-to-be can "choose" the traits of their possible child by reading the profiles of the egg donors. It seems wrong to me to support something where parents try to select themselves a better child. Other than that, it's just something I'm curious about what you all think. Opinions or thoughts? ~Nova
it is my understanding, that to have an egg donor, you can't pay them for it. All the women I've known who used donor eggs to get pregnant had them donated by friends or family. It's a very painful, drawn out process, basically the same as IVF, except they implant the fertilized eggs into someone else's womb. They couldn't pay me enough to go through the hormonal hell of those injections and horrid procedures (not that they'd take my eggs anyway).
yeah screw that. My eggs are mine! I do believe every woman should have the the choice to go through it if they like.
if they paid me enough (under the table if it's illegal round here) or I really liked them, yes but I'd rather they adopted/fostered is possible.. makes more sense to me to take in kids that aren't wanted atm than to go and create more kids
on a website I looked at the yoffered about $5000. This is because they pump you full of hormones so you release more eggs and I also hear the process is painful for the donor. I would suggest adoption, since there are a ton of kids already born. Even infants can be adopted. If you want a baby, you can adopt a baby. You don't have to adopt an older child. I guess I can see the whole "I gotta have a baby! I gotta have a baby!" mentality like Debbie on Sealab2021, but in a way I feel it is selfish to spend all that money just so someone can have your DNA... but it's their body, their decision. I would donate a kidney to save someone I loved. I guess the donor views it as a gift.
I've also heard (in passing, I haven't done a lot of research on the subject) that the hormones etc. the donor receives during preparation can put the woman at higher risk for cancers, heart disease, etc. This may be because of synthetic hormones, I don't know... (?) It seems like maybe there's some correlation between that and the higher instance of such diseases in post-menonpausal women who take hormone therapy. And I can imagine that it would be VERY painful, since it would require a needle injected into the ovary to draw the eggs out (ouch!) Like I said, I haven't done a lot of research on all this, but it would make sense to me. In any case, I wouldn't recommend doing anything like this until after doing serious thourough research on the subject, and potential side effects. Also, keep in mind that since this process hasn't even been medically possible for very long (in the big scheme of things, that is) there may be no telling what effects it will have on your body in 30-40 years.
Well I got a rare form of cervical cancer from birth control pills, which are synthetic hormones, so i wouldn't doubt it. My immune system corrected the problem, but it did happen. I wouldn't suggest putting any syhthedic hormones into your body.
I see the ads for egg donors in magazines and local papers all the time... I forget where I read it, but I read an article about what women who answer those ads go through. It sounds like hell for nowhere near enough money. And the article suggested that, at least when the informants went through it, the agencies were less than forthcoming about how traumatic the experience could be in terms of the crazy shit the hormone regimen puts your body through. If it were a matter of donating for a loved one, well, that's a very personal dilemma. However, in terms of selling your eggs, it sounds like it would be easier and more pleasant to earn that money working in a Malaysian sweatshop. Personally, I wouldn't do it for any reason. That's not a judgement of right or wrong in general, just not right for me.
In egg donation, the eggs are produced in mass, by the donor, by the use of fertility drugs, then they are removed, fertilized (usually by the mother to be's dh's sperm) in vitro (literally "In glass" but it means "outside the body" as in a Petri Dish) they are not fertilized IN the donor, as embryo transplants are not something medicine has on the table, yet and then the Fertlized Eggs are implanted in the recipient mother. The recipient mother then, if things go right (and the miscarrage rate is VERY high) goes on to have her baby. This is usually used when a womyn has eggs which either disintigrate easily and cannot be fertilzed, or a womyn who has no viable eggs of her own. (The donor also has to agree to NOT have any sex during the process, as she is hyperovulating, and not only would easily become pregnant, but would have high risk of a multiple pregnancy.) Actually, the baby would have NONE of your DNA. It would have the DNA of the Egg Donor. Donors CAN be paid, just like sperm donors are. If you ask someone to CARRY your baby for you, as a surrogate, they, legally cannot be paid (although they almost always are) but you CAN sell your eggs. (Or maybe they just call it a "stipend" either way, you make money.) The body uses "artificial hormones" exactly the same as it uses "natural hormones" the problem comes in when you are taking WAY more of any hormone than your body is supposed to make. Whether this be a fertility drug, a BC pill or "natural progesterone." ir Blue Cohosh, ect as an Estrogen supplement. When more hormones are administered than the body makes on it's own, the problems start, no matter what form these hormones are in. I, personally, would never do it. One, because I don't want to put my body into the state of hyperovulation that it requires, Two, I don't want someone else raising MY children. But, people have the right to make thier OWN decisions, just so they know all that is involved.
I would never go through all that just so someone else could have my baby. If they really want a baby, they should adopt. There are plenty of kids out there who need parents, so why make more (especially since it wouldn't have the recipient's DNA anyway)?
