Donating Eggs for Money
Tony Smith
March 3, 2010
An Offer She Can’t Refuse
Could $50,000 change a person’s life? If person’s an average American not named Bill Gates the answer is most likely, yes. College-aged women see ads that offer this type of money on a regular basis by infertile couples nation-wide. A bidding war has begun for healthy eggs from young women for in-vitro fertilization. An infertile couple purchases the eggs and the female has them implanted into her body to function as her own. Once again modern medicine has offered people another alternate route around Mother Nature. Although well compensated and totally voluntary, how fair is the process to the young ladies who donate these eggs? There is many health risks involved as well as ethical and psychological issues. Some women even die from donating their eggs. These women are being asked to sell the gift of life to the highest bidder. This is a huge decision for a young person to make at such a pivotal point in her life. Are they aware of the risks involved? Are they giving up their ethical beliefs and morale views? Is this information made readily available to them? Are they even aware they could contract cancer and die? These and other questions face potential donors as they weigh their options.
“College girls are the perfect donors. Younger eggs are likelier to be healthy, and the girls themselves frequently need money” according to Kathryn Jean Lopez (677). That is a marketing professional’s dream! “Everyone has something to sell or something they want to buy” (Superior People 687). Couples are desperate for eggs, and willing to pay unreal amounts of money just to have a child because the couples have no other options. The people who possess the eggs are often in need of money and have few marketable assets other than their health. Supply and demand creates a wide open market. The only marketing element that remains is advertising. College girls may feel targeted by...