Guest Comment — An Egg Seller’s Market

May 18, 2006

Debra Spar, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of a The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception, estimates that egg donation is now a $40 million-a-year industry. Not so surprisingly, CBS news is reporting that around 75% of this “donor” market are college-aged women who are being paid thousands of dollars for each cycle. The lack of legislative oversight concerns Spar — not because of any medical risks — but because of the emotional risks. Not only does she under acknowledge the risks to life and health, her concern for the emotional health is also apparently misplaced. “People are selling genetic material and hope.”

Helane Rosenburg, also mentioned in the CBS article, is equally concerned for the emotional wellbeing of the egg buyer. As a fertility clinic egg donor coordinator, her job is to make sure couples understand “there are no guarantees” regarding the intellect or appearance of the child that may be produced. Interestingly enough, she makes perfectly clear to the young women from whom the eggs are procured “they’re not giving away a baby.” I’m happy to see that she is clear on the distinction between an egg and an embryo, but if these young woman are completely ignorant of the fact that their egg is going to become an embryo — a baby — and if Rosenburg is not fully informing them of this fact, then these women are truly victims of exploitation.
— Sarah J. Flashing