Need Cash? Tap Into Your Ovaries
(www.livelywomen.com) — I wish I were making this up, but evidently the new way to get money in a tight economy is by donating your eggs. It may net you anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000, but is the process worth it? And what about the health risks? Oh, and the tiny matter of mothering a child you will never meet…
“We are seeing an increase in inquiries, but we’re not sure if it’s due to the economy or increased awareness,” said Dr. Susan Willman, a reproductive endocrinologist at the Reproductive Science Center of the Bay Area. In July 2007, the Reproductive Science Center received 120 calls inquiring about egg donation. This year, that number jumped to 158 calls.
“We are so inundated right now,” said Robin von Halle, president of Alternative Reproductive Resources.
Von Halle said that 30 to 50 inquiries a day from potential donors come in to her Chicago, Illinois, agency, which connects would-be parents with donors and surrogates. A year ago, it would have been 10 to 30, she said.
Talking to other people in the field has convinced von Halle that applications from potential donors are up “across the board.” (source)
To be an egg donor, a woman has to meet a series of health requirements and undergo six to eight weeks of screening, hormone treatments, and various tests to determine eligibility. And the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can be rather uncomfortable and could potentially have long-term risks resulting from enlargement of your ovaries, is a big turn-off in my book.
Would you ever donate your eggs to earn money?
Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King
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Tags: womens health blog, womens, health, women, woman, health, egg donation, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrom, donate eggs to earn money, reproductive science, infertility treatment, egg donor, lively women, kristen king
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2 opinions for Need Cash? Tap Into Your Ovaries
MikCtr
Sep 18, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I think of Malcom’s comment in Jurrasic Park where he stated, “The thing that concerns me with what you’re doing here is that you were so concerned whether you COULD do it, you never stopped to think whether or not you SHOULD do it!” Personally, I think that applies here, too…. Life is a gift and was intened to be appreciated within boundries (admit it! NONE of us get EVERYTHING we want…). The ethical issues, not to mention legal ones (as they are just beginning to come up), this brings up are amazing and overwhelming! Personally, I could never mother/father the child of my husband/wife and another woman/man. Say you’re a womon who bears the child of your husban and another woman and he leaves you (Come on, people… In the US you ONLY have a 50/50 chance!) Could he take the child you’ve carried, bore, and breast fed simply because he’s the biological father and you are nothing more than an oven? Should the child know how they were conceived and born? Does the child have the RIGHT to know who its biological parents are? What if there is a medical/genetic issue that could be resolved with a family history? Just because it CAN be done, doesn’t mean it SHOULD. These are HUMAN lives we’re talking about, not dinosaurs….
Kristen King
Sep 24, 2008 at 10:28 am
Great comment, MikCtr. I’m surprised no one else has weighed in yet. You said exactly what I was thinking: Just because you CAN do it doesn’t necessarily mean you SHOULD — with humans or with animals. It’s a can of worms I’m afraid to open.
kk
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