Last year, infertile couples in the U.S. spent
nearly $3 billion to improve their chances of having babies. They also
paid out more than $38 million for egg donations, a procedure that's
become both popular and controversial as fertility clinics and brokers bid
for the best and brightest egg donors.
Colleges offer some of the best gene pools for
infertile couples looking for smart young women willing to donate their
eggs
. And ads, found
in many college newspapers, can speed the search by offering cash-strapped
students thousands of dollars, "for a few good eggs."
Carrie Specht
answered one of the ads eight years ago when she was a struggling student
at New York University. "I'm not going to kid anybody; the dollar signs
were there first and foremost." Because it's illegal to sell body parts in
the U.S., the money is considered a fee for a woman's time and
inconvenience.
Professor Deborah Spar, author of the "Baby Business", a book that
looks at the economics of conception, says any way you look at it, it's
still a cash transaction. "They are not donating eggs -- in most cases,
they are selling them. Yes, it's a miraculous science, but there's also
commerce."
It's a profitable bit of commerce for donors with high demand
characteristics such as top academic scores, athletic ability and good
looks.
Carrie wound up donating four times, using some of the money to start a film
company, which she aptly named Zygot Films. "I do know there are at least
three children out there that are carrying my DNA", she says. “I like
it a lot, I like the idea that I have longevity." Not
everyone feels the same way. Shannon Clark was a college sophomore when
she donated an egg to a relative. Now ten years later and pregnant with
her first child, she has regret.
"As I grow older and more mature and started to have maternal instincts
and feelings of my own",she says, “I realized, wow, this wasn't just DNA,
this was my child, I gave to my aunt."
Industry watchdogs say there's currently very little
government oversight on the fertility industry and even fewer rules on egg
donations, such as how many times a woman can donate or how much she should be
paid. Deborah Spar wants a debate on the medical and ethical questions surrounding egg donations - a procedure which
doctors say involves weeks of hormone injections and a small risk of long-term
health problems.
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