Solving infertility issues: Women selling their eggs for quick money?

The thought of a woman to sell her eggs because of financial challenges may seem too easy a way to make money.

The motivation to do this could be stronger because after all, the eggs are “wasted” every month in a woman who has no plans to conceive and so what is the farce about making some cash out of them.

Currently, there are women or couples who are willing to pay sub­stantial sum of money as compen­sation to women willing to donate their eggs, and the financial reward offered to an egg donor may often be bait many potential donors can­not resist.

This results in their participation in the egg donation process, obliv­ious of the risks relative to their health and safety, including loss of fertility and sometimes the death of the donor.

According to a Specialist Ob­stetrician Gynaecologist with the Women’s Health Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Dixie Constantini, in an interview with The Spectator last Friday, said egg donation, med­ically, was the process by which a woman was given medication to stimulate ovulation and her eggs harvested.

She explained that the choice by a woman to be a recipient of a donor egg generally fell into three categories.

She said that the first were women who were unable to pro­duce viable eggs of their own. The second category included women above the age of 40 opting for as­sisted reproduction, and the third comprised women who had genetic conditions and wished not to pass on to their children, or who had multiple pregnancy failures which could not be medically explained.

The Obstetrician Gynaecologist said in some cases, the recipient might be a surrogate mother who had offered to carry the baby on behalf of another person or family.

“The recipient could also choose to carry the baby by herself after the donated egg has been fertilised by the semen of her partner. This usually happens when she intends to keep the baby and wants to experience pregnancy on her own” she explained.

She said each month women who had reached puberty and had not gone past menopause released egg from their ovaries, and on rare oc­casions released two.

“The egg if healthy can be fer­tilised by an equally healthy sperm. The union of egg and sperm is termed as fertilisation and this is key to any pregnancy occurring. The womb of a woman has a special lin­ing that can increase and decrease in thickness in response to signals received from the body,” DrCon­stantini said.

She said that while some women donated their eggs purely for mon­etary benefit, a few others were motivated by altruism.

She said the collected eggs were stored and could be used by other women for the purposes of having a baby by a process known as assisted reproduction.

“Healthy Women between the ages of 18 and 32 are usually con­sidered suitable candidates for egg donation. This criterion is, howev­er, country-specific. A limit to the number of times an individual can donate eggs exists. These limits, set by health authorities of various countries, are intended primarily to safeguard the health of the donor” she said.

She said in some countries the upper limit for donations by an indi­vidual was six during their lifetime, however, in other jurisdictions, the upper limit was 10 donations per individual during their lifetime.

DrConstantini cautioned women who wished to donate eggs to be well informed and also go to trust­ed heath facilities.

“Not all monies are worth it,” she cautioned, as she explained that a person could have fertility problems later in life or even lose her life during egg retrieval if not done well.

She said, it was important that before a person made the decision to become an egg donor, she should know that as much as the process could be complication free, the hormones given before this proce­dure could have side effects includ­ing headaches or bloating.

The Specialist Obstetrician Gy­naecologist said the hormones could also come with side effects such as mood changes , extreme enlarge­ment of ovaries, fluid filling the lungs and abdomen of the donor, increased blood clot formation and having a stroke.

She, therefore, advised women to make sure they are thoroughly informed of the risks that come with the procedure,s as they can encounter post procedure and think seriously about the decision to donate egg before they agree to go ahead with signing consent forms to undergo a procedure as such”.

Meanwhile, in an interview with some members of the public in re­action to a question as to whether they would be willing to do an egg donation or be a recipient, there were divergent views.

A student of a public university who spoke on condition of anonym­ity said she would like to donate her eggs because she was not ready to get married now and felt instead of losing them every month, she would rather give to someone who was desperate.

“I see nothing wrong with it. I feel it is just like donating blood to someone who is in dire need of it. The person will be eternally grateful to you and even bless you. I would like to do it for free than sell it. It would make me feel bet­ter “ she said.

“Under this economy I wouldn’t mind selling my eggs. I will make good money and I don’t think this is a crime or sin” a trader also said.

A 40-yea-old nurse said if she had found herself desperate to have a child as a younger person, she would have gladly gone for the op­tion of being a recipient of another person’s egg.

She was, however, concerned that there was not “straight for­ward “ laws in the country regulat­ing the practice and so might give room to abuse by young girls or women which would and compro­mise their health.

From DzifaTettehTay, Tema.