Couples dealing with infertility seek out various treatments and solutions to achieve their desire to become parents.  Given the rise in reproductive technological advancements such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), adoption is no longer the only means to that end. Unfortunately, unlike adoption, overcoming infertility with methods that use donated eggs raises many ethical and health concerns.

At an estimate of $3 billion a year, the lucrative egg donation business entices young women in their twenties by paying them thousands of dollars for their eggs, with $50,000 as the largest amount of money reportedly offered for an egg donation.  Besides being physically attractive and having high SAT scores, these young women donors must also pass medical and psychological tests before those in the fertility industry will consider them as possible donors.  During a period of one month, donors inject hormone boosting shots to stimulate egg production.  For young women donating their eggs, the health risks may be more than they bargained for.

In an article titled, “An Inconvenient Truth: Eggsploitation Happens,” Jennifer Lahl comments that the college girl who thinks about “earning some quick cash selling her eggs may have to deal with an inconvenient truth when she finds herself prematurely infertile.”

Given that some campus newspapers advertise egg donation as a way for students to make easy money, it is likely that these young women are not fully informed of the risks associated with egg harvesting to consent to egg donation procedures.  Be it altruistic or for monetary compensation, the reason young women decide to donate their eggs does not lessen or eliminate the serious side effects of taking powerful fertility drugs. 

Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome is the most serious side effect of egg production stimulation.  In its most mild form, abdominal bloating, nausea and weight gain are the associated symptoms.  The most severe complications of OHSS are stroke, organ failure and even death.[1]  Internal hemorrhaging is a side effect that results from the needle extraction of the eggs from the ovaries.  It is the unknown long-term risks of egg donation that make some infertility specialists caution young women who are considering donating their eggs.  Fertility drugs have the potential to cause cancer and permanent infertility.  No data exists that describes the long-term health risks of the fertility drugs, thus making it impossible for women to give fully informed consent to egg donation procedures.

 Typically, only one egg is released during ovulation.   In another article, “Unscrambling the Human Egg Donation Debate”,  Jennifer Lahl states, “Hyperstimulation of the ovaries, as opposed to normal maturation, will release some 10-12 eggs at a time, almost as many as a woman produces naturally in a whole year of menstrual cycles.”  The use and necessity of egg stimulating drugs itself shows the untruthfulness behind the claim that women naturally produce millions of eggs to replenish eggs taken for IVF practices.  This means that women who donate their eggs may find themselves facing infertility problems when wanting to become parents themselves.

Since doctors extract and fertilize more than one egg for IVF donations, unless multiple births occur, a decision of what to do with the remaining embryos must be made.  It is not surprising that embryonic stem cell and cloning researchers would consider donated eggs as viable sources to carry out their research objectives.  Embryonic stem cell scientists claim that the potential for medical success is great, despite the fact that there is little evidence to prove this.  The growing number of researchers wanting to use human eggs for research purposes is expanding so rapidly that groups such as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) are contemplating more ways to compensate women for their eggs.  Unfortunately, one of the ways CIRM is considering funding these unethical research efforts is by subsidizing the fertility treatments of women donating their eggs.

Embryonic stem cell research is not only linked to egg donation but sex trafficking as well.  The buying and selling of women and children through human trafficking makes it possible for the eggs of these women to be used for egg harvesting.  Michelle Clark and Jennifer Lahl explain the dangers of viewing human trafficking as a singular issue of sexual exploitation in their article, “Egg Donors and Human Trafficking.”

Some infertility specialists, such as Kamal Ahuja, who is the scientific and management director of the Cromwell IVF & Fertility Centres in the U.K., is concerned with the lack of information of the long-term side effects on donors when making this life-altering decision.  Ahuja says, “the discussion [pertaining to egg donation] should emphasize long-term risk assessment rather than money.”[2]  For young women who want to help infertile women with their desire to become a mother, the benefits of motherhood do not justify ignoring or minimizing the potential serious long-term side effects for the donor.  

In speaking to the ethical dilemma and legitimacy of egg donation, Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright states, “When people donate organs, they help sustain another person’s life — and it is illegal in the U.S. to pay for organs.  Yet it is not illegal to pay for women’s eggs, which are used to create a new life.  The egg donation business is fraught with ethical quandaries and medical questions, yet it is virtually unregulated in the U.S.”  The ethical ramifications of using donated human eggs for research purposes are myriad.  From the lack of respect for human life to the uncertain health outcomes, regardless of the selling price of human eggs, the costs for some involved are too high to pay.