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California legislation to allow women to be paid for their eggs for scientific research is sailing toward final passage literally swaddled in motherhood and apple pie arguments. Missing from the debate is a key reason behind the bill – building profits for what some call the “baby business.”
The legislation is touted as providing equal treatment for women, permitting them to be paid for supplying eggs for stem cell and other research, much as men are paid for sperm. It also would put women who sell their eggs for research on an equal economic footing with women who sell their eggs for fertility treatments, which is currently permitted under state law. Payments to those women range from an average of $9,000 to as much as $50,000, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.
Assemblywoman Susan Bonillla, D-Concord, author of the bill(AB926), says,
The legislation is touted as providing equal treatment for women, permitting them to be paid for supplying eggs for stem cell and other research, much as men are paid for sperm. It also would put women who sell their eggs for research on an equal economic footing with women who sell their eggs for fertility treatments, which is currently permitted under state law. Payments to those women range from an average of $9,000 to as much as $50,000, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.
Assemblywoman Susan Bonillla, D-Concord, author of the bill(AB926), says,
“It is time to let women, just as any other research subject, make an informed decision as to participation, and justly compensate them for doing so.”She also says that the ban on...