It’s All About Altruism

According to a MarketWatch article posted in January, the total outstanding student loan in the US is $1.2 trillion. About 40 million Americans hold student loans and about 70% of bachelor’s degree recipients graduate with debt. It’s tempting to come across this egg donation ad as a young female college student. It sounds like a quick, easy way to make $4,000 while contributing to a good cause. The ad not only sounds alluring, but safe. After all, ‘what’s a few eggs between friends?’ But despite the noble rhetoric used by the egg donation industry, it is fundamentally a business. As said by Debora Spar in Rene Almeling’s article: [Eggs are “donated,” and surrogate mothers offer their services to help the infertile.” Certainly the rhetoric that surrounds these transactions has nothing to do with markets or prices or profits. Quite possibly, the people who can undertake them only want to help. But neither the rhetoric nor the motive can change the underlying activity.] Within egg donation production, there are various social implications regarding gender, race, and wealth. Only the wealthy can afford to participate, and when they do, they have set expectations and requirements for donors. Infertility is of course, a devastating thing where the infertile feel like they have no control. There is a considerable amount of control when a recipient gets to decide on a donor based on her sex, gender, fertility, salary, and even “demonstration of altruism.” But in this niche, selective market, it is not just reproductive material, but visions of middle-class American femininity and masculinity, and more to the point, of motherhood and fatherhood, that are marketed and purchased. When comparing basic requirements for sperm donors and egg donors, the difference is sure to raise eyebrows. Spermbank’s list is short compared to ConceiveAbilities’:

Basic Requirements for CCB Sperm Donors- At least 5’9” tall, between 19 and 38 years old, sexual partners are exclusively female, legally allowed to work in the US, are in good health, currently attending a four-year university, or already hold a bachelors or advanced degree

Basic Requirements for Potential Egg Donations- Between 21-29 years of age, have regular monthly periods, no reproductive disorders or abnormalities, physically and emotionally healthy, BMI under 29, non-nicotine/smoker/drug user, not currently on Depo-Provera, willing to undergo medical and psychological evaluation, willing to take injectable medication, willing to commit to the process for a minimum of 6 months, willing and able to respond to communication within 24 hours from ConceiveAbilities and clinic staff, excited about the process of helping to build a family.

Unlike the process men undergo to donate sperm, the preparation and procedure involved in egg donation require a longer-term commitment- a woman’s body is hormonally altered through the process, and she undergoes surgery. This ad, as well as many other egg donation ads, are void of known risks.The ads don’t mention ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a condition that causes the ovaries to swell and become painful in about one-fourth of women who use injectable fertility drugs. (OHSS generally goes away after a week or so, but in severe cases it can cause rapid weight gain, abdominal pain, vomiting and shortness of breath.)

Nor do they mention that the surgery to remove the eggs can sometimes lead to complications, including cramping, bleeding and infection. I was reading an article about EggBanxx, which hosts “Let’s Chill” egg freezing cocktail parties sponsored by companies such as EMD Serono and Freedom Fertility Pharmacy. The September 2014 event was held at a luxurious Manhattan hotel with the slogan “Three F’s: Fun, Fertility and Freeze.” The presenters did not discuss high failure rates or alarming gaps in safety studies, but they did pitch financing options and offered $500 and $1000 discounts through follow up emails several days later. Both donor and recipient alike are faced by perpetual media and marketing blitzes which urge women to “take control of the calendar” or to “spare an egg or two.” Risks aside, regulations and debates need to look closely at markets that produce bodily goods and the rhetoric concerning them. Questions that look at the difference in treatment of female and male donors and investigate the risks people face when distributing parts of their bodies (ex. sperm, tissues, blood, fluids, eggs) have been and must continue to be posed.