Young Women’s Eggs: Elite and Ordinary
By Elizabeth Reis, Biopolitical Times guest contributor
| 09. 15. 2011
My college-age daughter can earn $50,000-$100,000 just for being smart, beautiful, tall, and a Harvard student. Yes, going to Harvard could actually pay off, even sooner than we might have imagined. $100,000 would go a long way toward paying her tuition and fees, a fact that she has pointed out to me many times. And all she would have to do is “donate” her eggs to an infertile couple willing to pay.
“Donate” is quite a misnomer. Young women are getting paid handsomely, though there is outrageous discrepancy between what are considered “elite” and more ordinary eggs. At the University of Oregon, where I teach, advertisements frequently appear in the student newspaper offering only $5000 for my students’ eggs. Still, many are tempted. I worry that young women are being unfairly lured by these exorbitant sums (even $5000 is a lot to a college student at a public university) to sign on to something that we can’t really be sure is safe in the long run.
One danger is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a potentially harmful condition caused by the...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
