Allegations that women are selling their eggs in exchange for IVF show how murky things become when money and the desperation for a baby intersect
The latest furore to hit the fertility industry exposes what a murky, complicated business it is. A number of the UK’s private clinics have been accused of misleading desperate, cash-strapped fertility patients into donating their own eggs for other people’s treatment. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the findings were “serious and worrying” and the UK’s regulator of fertility treatment, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has launched an investigation.
One of the problems with the exposé is that the situation is far from straightforward. Egg sharing is an established and accepted practice in this country. In return for free treatment, a woman donates some of her own eggs harvested during an IVF cycle to another woman who does not have eggs of her own. It is supposed to be a primarily altruistic gesture, although undoubtedly if you can’t afford IVF there is a financial incentive (ie you don’t have to pay). However, the recent allegations suggest that some clinics are not offering just free treatment but money for eggs (which is not allowed), and that some clinics are proactively promoting the practice in order to obtain eggs to sell on at a significant profit.
May 03, 2017 at 08:27PM
from Jessica Hepburn
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