Op-Ed: The Egg Trade — Making Sense of the Market for Human Oocytes

March 30, 2007

Anna Behrens is 24 years old. Tall and slim, she is working toward her Ph.D. in art history at an Ivy League school. During her undergraduate years, Anna accumulated $27,000 in credit-card debt. In the fall of 2005, frustrated by her economic straits, Anna answered an advertisement in her university’s magazine promising $25,000 to a “tall, athletic woman” willing to “give a gift of life and love.” (NEJM)