So I know that this article is two years old, but this is the first time that I had even heard about a ban on selling human eggs. I found it slightly arbitrary that men can walk in, do the deed in a cup, and then walk out with cash, and no one even stops to ask if they felt they were given proper “patient” care. However, when a woman wants to sell her eggs, which have the same amount of chromosomes as sperm, and in my opinion are no more important than the little swimmers, she is told she could pay a fine of $150,000. That is, if she lives in the state of Arizona.
The main thing is that women have to inject hormones for four weeks then have a ten minute surgery where they remove the eggs, around ten sometimes twelve. You get a few stitches and walk out with at least $5,000. There is a small risk that the woman may become infertile, just like there is a rare risk that Advil will make your stomach bleed. If a woman knows the risk, shouldn’t she have the option to sell her eggs, just like we have the option to undergo plastic surgery, a surgery that doesn’t help anyone and carries greater health risks?
Students experience with egg donation
I am by no means a feminist. I accept that men are better at some things than women, and that women are better at some things than men. That still doesn’t keep me from being a little chagrined at the fact that men can sell their baby making material, with only a few questions asked, and women can’t even donate without having to jump through hoops and watch instructional videos on the rare risks. If you want to sell, then expect to have to jump through hoops lit on fire over a tank of sharks and into a pit of poisonous snakes in any state other than Arizona.
There is no reason that a woman’s half of the zygote material has to be considered more precious than a man’s. It by no means needs to be better protected by an “ethics” that only restrain a woman from using her body the way she decides, especially when it’s to help other women conceive.
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It is because women are much more fragile than men ?
I honestly have no clue- it could be because in order to harvest the eggs, it is much more intensive, whereas all a guy tends to need is a secure room and a playboy.
Because the laws are written mostly by men.
Sami – you say you’re not a feminist. So you don’t think that women should have the same rights, opportunities, and respect as men?
Lene, lay off Sami, seriously. I hate that argument “You’re not a feminist eh? SO YOU WANT TO BE REPRESSED! FINE! YOU’RE A FILTHY WHORE TOO!”… please, we all know what she meant. and that’s that she’ll shave her legs and look pretty and not worry about ranting and raving about the man getting her down, and about women being pushed to the depth of society. seriously.
…perhaps I should have said “Feminazi.” I believe women are equal, but not better. I also don’t think we should have special priveledges, like getting scholarships or jobs over men who are better qualified, just because I have breasts. To me, that’s more demeaning than being turned down because I have them.
Katie-thank you
While you might be honestly confused here, it seems unlikely. Feminists are diverse and quite a lot of women don’t like that label, because they don’t want to be associated with the more radical types.
1. every single surgery, from breast implants to skin grafts, to reattaching a big toe requires the doctor(s) to thoroughly educate the patient on the risks of that surgery, no matter how unlikely. Donating sperm obviously does not require surgery, so the process is much simpler. This is not specific to women donating eggs.
2. over the course of an average woman’s lifetime, she has a total of around 400 000- 450 000 eggs in each ovary. over the course of a man’s lifetime, he will typically produce 525 billion sperm. 525 billion.
3. also, the eggs of a woman, because of how long they “sit” in the ovaries, they may be much more delicate and prone to mutation and other such unfortunate events.
-shrugs-
and I suppose people have said this already, but being a “feminist” doesn’t mean that you think women are better than men, or men are better than women. and of course, this all depends on how you mean “woman”
but that’s just being post-modern. hahaha….