Consider the ethics of human egg ‘donation’

Submitted by Sheila Leach
Posted 12/2/21

Dear Editor:

While not a proponent of teaching controversial topics in most public school grade levels, I acknowledge that inevitably such discussions will take place at the high school level. …

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Consider the ethics of human egg ‘donation’

Posted

Dear Editor:

While not a proponent of teaching controversial topics in most public school grade levels, I acknowledge that inevitably such discussions will take place at the high school level. Students in their mid- to late teens are close to approaching adulthood and voting. Many are college-bound. They will have to form opinions and be aware of the ethical issues that can arise after they leave the shelter of their family homes.

One controversial issue that most people know little to nothing about is surrogacy. Young women in colleges may come across glossy and alluring advertisements online offering them a quick and easy way to make lucrative amounts of money by selling their ova (eggs). What they will not find out includes the following:

This procedure is illegal in most of Europe and also India. It is totally legal in the United States. The process is neither quick nor easy. It is also potentially dangerous to a young woman’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It involves the use of drugs and hormones to cause a totally unnatural hyper-production of eggs for harvesting by a tube inserted into the woman’s ovaries. Negative health outcomes include infertility and cancer.

Young women can believe that they are doing something noble in the way of helping infertile couples experience the happiness of parenthood. Some of these couples live overseas. Some are homosexuals. This practice involves the exploitation of vulnerable women for profit and the human trafficking of newborn babies.

College-bound girls need to be aware of this so they can avoid being exploited and also warn their friends who might be tempted by unscrupulous money-making clinics. Search for information at the Center for Bioethics and Culture at www.cbc-network.org.

Sheila Leach

Cody

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