Do you think it's ethical for a woman to donate her eggs?

I just saw, on CNN, women in college are donating their eggs for $10,000 - $20,000. They are targeting women under 21 years of age, by advertising in school newspapers. These donors actually have to undergo hormone therapy and surgery, and risk infertility.

What a crazy world we live in!

;)

That sounds like selling. :shrug:

Selling doesn't sound as legitimate, does it?

The flip side is women donating eggs. No ethical problem there for me.

the treatment of surgery.

Ethically speaking, it's no more unethical for a woman to donate or sell her eggs as it is for a man to donate/sell his sperm. If the question were to be, "is it ethical to solicit women to donate/sell their eggs without advising them of the potential health risks" -- no, that's not ethical.

If it's okay to sell sperm then it's okay to sell eggs. But if you're doing it for money, in neither case do I think it can be called 'donating'.

She can do whatever she wants, and should not be morally judged by strangers. :)

I agree.

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As you pointed out...as long as she is aware of the risks.....

And think of the benefits to the childless couple.....

Of course it is ethical for her to donate eggs because she is only putting herself at risk. She is not hurting anyone else.
The people who want her to donate her eggs might be doing something unethical because they are asking a young woman to put herself at risk for the promise of money. The woman has the right to refuse them of course, but if she is in a situation where she might be desperate for money, it might be a form of coercion.

NFL players, firemen, skyscraper builders, etc. . . . .

:)

And if it is unethical to pay a woman for this, to tempt her with the money, is there a line to be drawn somewhere - and where is that line? $10,000? $5,000? $1,000?

Perhaps it best not to pay the woman at all (though to cover her medical expenses and lost time makes sense), so that one can say that the woman was not at all tempted and/or abused by the offer of lucre.

And if we allow the selling of the eggs for a fair price, what about other body parts? Is there a time when we might think it allowable, if a person is rich enough, to offer someone $10 million for his/her heart, knowing that they will die but they might be tempted knowing their family will never need to worry about money again?

That the putative donor needs money does not turn the transaction into coercion. Coercion implies the use of force. Making an offer does not equate to the use of force.

so obviously I think it's ethical.

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I'm doing it to help her, not for money.

I wouldn't want to do that, but it's up to the individual.

If it enhances someone else's life, how could it be wrong?

sometimes they are spot on...

If someone is willing to pay for the eggs then why not. The donor is informed of the risks. If she thinks the money is worth it then why not? Everyone involved in an adult.

It seems a little wierd/creepy/potentially unethical for a couple themselves struggling with infertility to ask another woman to risk that for them though.

Hell, they're not getting just the egg. They are getting the whole newborn human baby.

the risks already exist and are inherent in pregnancy and childbirth. That's not the case when eggs are extracted.

Do a Google search for "surrogate mother." ;)

I don't even know how I feel about that.

This is America, Jack . . . I mean, Lara. :P

But there they are, nonetheless.

PS: That was a compliment. ;)

I'm certainly not going to use them. :shrug:

the increased risk of cancer and the hormonal disruptions are not worth $20,000 i wouldn't think

however it's just as ethical as someone donating or selling any other body part, her body, her choice

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how could it not be?

i think somebody has to have some nerve to ask me for a kidney but if they did, they had damn well expect to pay!

everybody else gets paid when someone gets an organ transplant -- the only person who is usually stiffed is the person or family who provided the organ -- that is what is unethical, that is theft really, people are subject to all sorts of psychological and family pressure to give away something valuable and have their body cut into and not even to get paid, that is what is unethical

I really don't feel like considering this one myself. I'll delegate it to him.

Informed adults still get to make their own decisions last I checked.

There'd be guys lined up around the moon and back.

I think the practice of turning it into a for profit is. You can't sell your kidney, and for good reason. I think it's turning them into a commodity, and the procedure is just too risky for that.