The unregulated global human egg trade is a hotbed for exploitation. Women, often underage, sell their eggs. Human eggs are the most precious resource in human fertilization and are difficult to come by.
For years medical science has made it possible to extract eggs from women for in vitro fertilization. Years ago, I had fertility problems. In vitro fertilization was in its early stages, so, given certain circumstances, my then husband and I were not candidates for the procedure. Women have had their eggs extracted; the husband donated his sperm; and the eggs and sperm were united in a lab. Due to the hormonal injections a women receives to produce eggs, more than one are produced. The lab workers usually create several embryos, so they are insured of a viable one/s for implantation in a women's uterus. As the science improved, women began to donate their eggs for future implantation, supposedly when they were "ready" for motherhood, in a process called cryo fertilization.
In vitro ferilization is a boon to infertile women and unmarried and lesbian women who desire to be a mother. The procedure has helped millions, I am sure. However, the capability of science has again surpassed the ethics. Couples now have the capacity to freeze their embryos for a future date, sell the embryos, and discard them. Labs have the ability to sell embryos to parents without informing the original donors. The reader must remember that an embryo is the early formation of a human being. I am pro choice; however, the fact that these are embryos makes one pause.
Not only are married couples utilizing the science, but now poor girls in underdeveloped countries are harvesting their eggs and selling them to make money. These young women, "egg girls," have numerous eggs, i.e. 30 harvested from their bodies at one time. Since this is an unregulated market, the chances for these women to be exploited are extremely high. Usually wealthy couples purchase these embryos, since these procedures are expensive. Eggs can be sold for anywhere from 5,000-100,00 dollars.
Women rationalize selling their eggs by thinking they are doing something good for a couple. The egg donors feel they are free to do what they want with their bodies. In some countries, underage women are forced into egg donation for money which creates a huge power imbalance--wealthy foreigners purchasing eggs, and the donors receiving little remuneration. The clearest danger for women donating their eggs is that after too many egg retrievals, health problems can emerge. Limits to egg harvesting procedures are set, for example in the United States, but donors can go to numerous medical clinics undetected by authorities.
Some countries--Spain, Cambodia-- are beginning to regulate the industry of selling eggs. In China, it is illegal to sell eggs to foreigners. Of course, their are black and grey markets. The most cogent point is that most egg donors are not aware, either by repression or ignorance, that their eggs can be used with sperm to create babies all over the world. The women accepting the embryos from sold eggs have no idea who contributed. Sperm banks back in the 1980's described the donors; I do not know if that is still done. But that was not foolproof either, since a man could lie about his background. There are known risks to babies born from invitro fertilization.
Adoption has been criticized, villified, and banned over the years, especially international adoption. My children were adopted from other countries. During the process, I never felt that anything illegal occurred. Over the years, I have become less sure, as stories sporadically appear in the media. The most obvious exploitation of women in third world countries is taking away their infants without permission or convincing the birthmothers that adopted parents will give their child a better home. These mothers may receive remuneration, but not nearly as much as the lawyers, foster mothers, and adoption agencies earn. Monstrous tales of harvesting organs from infants born in non developed countries appear now and then, but these stories are impossible to prove.
The bottom line is that adoption is now considered a less desirable way to become a parent by most people. But as one can discern, the process of egg retrieval, donation, and in vitro fertilization is not foolproof. Most concerning are the ethical questions the science reveals. Adoption occurs with children, often living in circumstances that are not ideal for development. There is one child and one adoptive family.
The scarcity of human eggs means that the situation is ripe for exploitation. There is a lack of oversight in this sprawling industry which no one seems particularly concerned about. As mentioned above, buying eggs is expensive; women can be exploited; and no history comes along with an embryo. Many families are formed by a man and a woman harvesting and fertilizing their own eggs and sperm. But the ability to freeze the eggs for the future (or discard them) seems questionable to me except in the case of a serious disease occurring during child bearing years. In some states, one can save frozen embryos for 50 years. The implications are strange. At the least there should be strict uniform regulations in place. The laws seems different for states and countries outside of the United States. When one adopts, there are set procedures in place, including home studies, psychological and medical inquiry of future parents, education about adoption, and follow-up. That process currently does not exist for egg harvesting and donation and cryo fertilization.
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