Chirky

I dont think its immoral, but Im sure there are some women who only do it bc they are desperate for cash, I think once you donate you are giving up parental rights to any child that might result from your donation- which is why I could never donate- bc I dont think I could handle wondering if every child that looked remotely like me came from an egg I donated. My eggs are reserved for our own freakishly tall, pale offspring

Hmmm, you know the student paper has ads for these all the time. They don't want any yahoo off the street. The list of requirements is pretty impressive with minimal GPA, ACT, SAT and IQ scores and clean disease/drug history.

I tend to look at these in light of the family that can't have kids. How much does it mmean to them to get the chance to have a child that is at least partially genetically related.

My sisters are adopted and given the same question, I would have paid way more than that to have them in my life despite the trouble we cause each other. make that egg = one of your relatives and ask yourself the same question.

The issue becomes a lot like adoption as far as visitation goes.

Now the counter question is this, is it immoral for a male to donate his sperm? Is it? How much is sperm worth. Last I checked it was about $125 a .. umm ... donation. But what's that value to the man and his wife who has lost his children to disease or untimely death after a vasectomy? It's worth far more than $125.

Is it immoral. Yes, but I believe society has redefined "family" so much that any yahoo can have a baby who shouldn't be allowed one.

And the question lingering in my mind is, "What about the college girl down on her financial luck that figures she will have some eggs harvested so that she can pay rent and stay in school?" The egg, therefore, then becomes a commodity to buy and sell. It's our emotions and religious convictions that pure business ignores.

~Jef

Jef is right, the egg is a commodity. People sell plasma and blood all the time. Men donate semen as well. The egg's are yours and you should be able to do whatever you want with them.

As for visitition rights.... you've relenquished them when the egg/semen was donated or sold.

The egg does not shape the child, it merely creates the shell. The people who love, care for, and raise that child are the people who have a right to that child.

I agree with Joe, but if I were to do it, it would be to help others, not to earn money.

I'm with you Karen, but if times were tight and I had to put food on the table I'd do whatever it takes to make sure my family had a roof over our heads and food on the table.

I can also see how this might be a good option for someone who needs some help getting out of a situiation. 5k could be jsut the boost someone needs to finish school, get out of a shelter, or exit an abusive relationship. When times are tough you have th be resourceful.

Okay, I must be the only bad person here, because if I ever did it, it would TOTALLY be for the money. Ha.

I'm much more for adoption than egg donation. I really can't think of a single instance when I would think that egg donation is better than adopting a child, but that's just me.

I'm not really a "baby person" so I'm probably the wrong person to ask.

I don't see why it's immoral. I also think, once you donate it, it's gone. Whatever child (if there's a child produced) is only "your" child by a technicality. You're just going to 'cause confusion by demanding to visit...

For one thing, yes most women do it for money but it's not as easy as people think it is to retrieve those eggs. The women doing it must give themselves daily shots, take multiples amounts of hormones and subject their bodies to a lot of suffering. But it can definitely be lucrative. Especially when some eggs are going for $20,000 (but it can vary depending on your genetics, IQ, etc)

I don't think it's immmoral. I think it's capitalism. It's supply and demand. That's pretty much it.

Also, before donating the woman must decide whether or not she wants visitation or contact with the family that takes her eggs (depending on the agency handling the donation). It's all in the contract and she can't just come back later and say that she wants visitation rights or anything like that. From what I've read it's rare when the woman donating wants any future contact anyways.

If I knew that I would be constantly on the lookout, or even if I thought I might run across a future child, and I might want to talk to him or have contact with him I don't think I would donate an egg in the first place.

All the questions you ask prove the many complications surrounding egg donations. When it comes to something as precious as starting a life and involving a child, I don't think it's a good idea to fool around with that.

I thought about it for a tiny split second when I saw the ad offering $25,000 in the school news paper at Stanford. TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

My financial trouble. Gone. How awesome would that be!?

But then I thought about it... I am JUST like my mom. Just like her. I have her smile, I have her eyes, I have her strange genetically inherited quirks. It could not be more obvious that I am her daughter. And my mom and I get SUCH a kick out of how alike we are. If I donated an egg, I would ALWAYS wonder if there was a little girl out there with MY smile, with MY eyes, with MY genetically inherited quirks. And all that wondering would totally break my heart.

So I'm not against egg donation. I think it's a wonderful gift for someone to give to someone else... and it can certainly be lucrative... but it's just not for me.

I wouldn't do it personally but I think it's awesome to be able to give someone the gift of a child (or potential child). I don't think that the donor should have any rights though. Just too complicated for the child.

It's totally up to the person. Although the questions you raised are EXACTLY why I wouldn't ever buy or sell an egg. Or sperm. OK my hubby wouldn't do the sperm part.

I take no issue with egg donation, but I am bothered by the practice of harvesting them, and not fully explaining to those who are donating what the side effects may be. It's really a little bit frightening, and I can't imagine why anyone would put themselves through it (other than altruistic reasons which are few and far between).

But the moral issue in terms of babies being out there? No different from adoption or sperm donors, IMO.

Genetics are powerful. More powerful than we know, I think. It would freak my shit out to think that I had unknown children out wandering the world.

I have never wanted children, so the whole infertility thing is a bit of a mystery to me. I just can't "get" it - I cannot understand what it feels like to need a baby so badly that you would do almost anything to get it.

I started to write a comment, but my answer was so long that I decided it would be rude to write my own post in Jes' comments. So if you are interested in the experience of someone who has done it, click on the link to my blog below...

BTW, I would love to read the article you are referring to...would you post a link, if it is online? Oh, and thanks for asking the question.

By the way, those are chicken eggs you have posted - just FYI - people have been eating them for centuries. I agree with Amstaff Mom. Adoption is the better choice for 99% of the cases. Give an existing human being without one a loving home.

Why do they call it donate and not sell?

I don't have a problem with it, I'm just sayin... lets call it what it is.

i am pro-adoption! but hey, every child--er, egg--is a gift...give it a really pretty bow!

I haven't heard much of the argument, but I guess I have to wonder how this is much different from donating sperm. It gives women who might otherwise be barren a chance to have a baby, one they nurture with their own bodies, even if they didn't produce the egg. As for price, I can see why people would charge for it. Harvesting eggs can't be a fun procedure and, well, if the market will bear a price, then that's what's going to happen. If people aren't allowed to pay for the eggs, then how many women would donate them? As for the donor women being involved in the child's life, that opens up all sorts of complications. I think that if the donor signs a waiver saying she will not be involved, then she must stick to it. And if I were taking a donated egg to nurture then I would want that waiver signed, because it's difficult enough for two parents to agree on how a child should be raised, let alone three. I guess my final thought is that most of the eggs would go unused and die anyway, so what is the harm?

Going to take Horrible Warning's example and post the majority of my ramblings on my site.

Suffice it to say that I used to have very definite ideas on what was acceptable or not. And they were exhaustingly rigid.

Thank God I have matured and realize now that life works best when it really IS "to each her/his own." Too bad it took an infertility diagnosis and a divorce to get me here.

If egg donation is immoral, I think sperm donation should be as well.

I personally think neither is immoral, especially with all the millions of discarded embryos lost in abortions. I know that's a whole different topic, but really, a woman with good eggs can help a woman without. A woman without can possibly have a baby she's hoped and dreamed for, giving that baby a life that might otherwise not happen.

It is all how you perceive it to be.

However, a donor of either egg or sperm should consider that donation just as it is...a donation, no longer hers or his to claim ownership to.

I don't know how I feel about it. I might share an egg with a brother or sister who needs it. Keep it in the family and all.

Thought-provoking.