Reproductive technologies allow some people who previously couldn't have babies to do that. In almost every human society, perhaps 15 percent of the population is infertile, so there's always been a big demand for babies. Right now, the estimated average cost of producing a baby through these new treatments in the U.S. can be well over $50,000.
As I looked into it, I became convinced that reproductive technology was a market — with supply, demand and price coming together in a transaction.
Question: At Columbia University, there are ads in the student newspaper offering to pay tall blondes with high SAT's $8,000 to $20,000 for eggs to be used by infertile couples. Is this a good price?
Answer: Hmm. I think the price for Harvard eggs is higher, around $25,000. There have been ads offering even $50,000 and $100,000 for "exceptional eggs" though no one's ever come forward to say they've gotten that much.
The donor typically is young — 20 to 21 years old. She's run up the credit card bills, and she doesn't want Mom and Dad to know. She sees these very pretty ads in the school newspaper and this seems like a good way to solve a problem. The concern is that we don't know the long-term effects of doing this.
For egg extractions in general, there have been a couple of instances of horrific side effects. There are lots of cases of smaller ones. When you take large doses of hormones to produce eggs — either as a donor or an infertile woman — you're going to have bloating, mood swings, discomfort. All this is manageable. But if you do that three or four times, are there longer-term effects we don't yet know about?
Full article: A Conversation With Debora Spar
