Can I Borrow an Egg?
opinionated Essay
647 words
When I saw all the negative attention that egg donation was getting in the media, I had to tell my story of heartbreak and hope to the readers of Parenting Magazine. My name is Michelle and I love every moment of parenthood. Perhaps I am more excited than the normal new mom because of the struggle my husband and I went through to conceive. A specialist checked me two years ago and learned that my ovaries were no longer producing eggs. Assisted reproduction techniques such as In Vitro fertilization and egg donors have increased in popularity, so my husband, David, and I decided to look into egg donation. We went to where all searches now begin: the Internet. After researching hundreds of donors, we began to realize that the large majority of women in the donor directories were out of work actresses who obviously just needed extra cash. After sifting through countless donors who all looked the same, we decided to raise the criteria and the payment to find a more professional donor. Our ad appeared in the Yale Daily News as follows: $25,000 payment! Egg donor needed, over five feet five, of Jewish heritage, athletic, and attractive with a minimum combined SAT score of 1500. We didn't use such strict criteria in hopes of making the perfect child; we just wanted the absolute best person we could find to help our dream of having a child come true.
Although not as important as the health of our child, it is not vain to want our child to resemble the rest of our family. Being Jewish, both in religion and in heritage, made it vital to have a donor who was Jewish. We also stated in the ad that we wanted the donor to be attractive. Many readers took this request too seriously. We were not concerned about the beauty of our child; it was more about finding a donor who took good care of herself. We wanted a young woman who ate properly, exercised regularly, and cared about things like dental and eye health. We thought if we suggested "attractive" as a quality, that the actual, less vain list of specifications could be discussed at a future meeting. Many people will team with a geneticist to pick the sex, hair color, and eye color of their children.
In this essay, the author
- Describes how they decided to raise the criteria and the payment to find a professional egg donor.
- Opines that it is not vain to want our child to resemble the rest of our family. being jewish, both in religion and in heritage, made it vital to have a donor who was jewish.
- Explains that david and i decided to advertise in one of the nation's top ivy league schools and give a substantial amount of money to find an intelligent woman who would donate her dna to our child.
- Opines that using an egg donor, mothers who cannot produce eggs can be part of the birth of their child.
- Opines that parents should spend more money to get the very best for their child. in a perfect world, all children would have loving parents and all loving couples could have their own children.
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- The High Price of In Vitro Fertilizationanalytical essayWhen twenty-year-old Maria Slone first saw the ad in her college newspaper, she remembers thinking, “Damn, that’s a lot of money!” She called up immediately, envisioning an egg-plucking process that would be as quick and effortless as sperm donation. Disappointingly, the receptionist at Woman to Woman Fertility Clinic didn’t give her the time of day, mostly because that was last spring and Maria wasn’t twenty-one yet, but also because she seemed a tad too money-hungry for the well-to-do clinic.
In this essay, the author
- Narrates how maria slone, 20, saw the ad in her college newspaper and envisioned an egg-plucking process that would be as quick and effortless as sperm donation. the receptionist at woman to woman fertility clinic didn't give her the time of day.
- Narrates how maria, one year after donating her eggs to an infertile couple, knows what she's in for, both emotionally and physically.
- Explains that maria is taking both the emotional and physical sacrifices in stride because at the end of august, the woman to woman fertility clinic will cut her a $4,000 check.
- Narrates how maria dialed the 1-800 number after being rebuffed once. the receptionist at the fertility clinic made her voice buttery sweet, over-eager to please.
- Analyzes how maria's photo collages show an angelically pretty toddler with glorious blonde hair and round blue eyes. as an eight-year-old, she hams for the camera—the happy-go-luck american athlete.
- Analyzes how the woman's profile is flattering. after an exhaustive personality test, she emerged as a motivated, outgoing, well-adjusted woman, according to the clinic’s psychologist.
- Analyzes how maria is considered a hot item in the ovum donation market. she regrets that she didn't anticipate this when woman to woman asked her how much monetary compensation she wanted for the egg retrieval.
- Narrates how a woman who dropped out of high school got $4,000, but now wonders if that was too low.
- Analyzes how maria's preoccupation with her eggs' worth isn't due to vanity on her part. stories about women selling their eggs for $20,000 and more have rocked the in vitro fertilization field, plunging it into a capitalist arena.
- Analyzes how the san francisco-based pacific fertility parenting clinic recruiter emma weber reacts negatively to the ads. money is the motivation.
- Explains that some clinics, like pfpc, refuse to accept donors or prospective parents who want to barter eggs for more than $6,000. weber has trouble with women assigning a monetary value to eggs because of ethnicity or education.
- Opines that maria agrees with weber and others who are frustrated with the growing salability of eggs. she disapproves of women who donate their eggs "for a living," but resents the fact that egg donors are criticized for accepting compensation for an physically arduous process.
- Analyzes maria's flippant, slang word for the ovum donation process: "doning." it sounds official, almost medical, but as a noun, it seems to lose some of its glory.
- Explains that a rendezvous like this one is rare, arranged only if both the prospective parents and the egg donor want to meet each other.
- Analyzes how maria expects a blind date, but the couple already knows what she looks like. when i ask her if she's nervous, she responds defensively, suddenly possessive of the tiny eggs within her.
- Opines that they aren't just saying, "eggs for sale," with a haughtiness that surprises them. they want to know if they're worthy.
- Analyzes how maria prepping for the lunch date as if it’s a job interview. she's already planned her outfit and knows what color eye shadow and lipstick she'll wear.
- Describes how maria, a carefree teenager, will be given local anesthesia and be kept informed of how things are going. the average plunder produces 16 eggs.
- Analyzes how maria approaches the surgery with characteristic nonchalance: "i didn't expect this to be a breeze."
- Analyzes how the woman's voice sounds affected, almost martyr-like, as if she is making a noble sacrifice that not everyone can fully appreciate.
- Analyzes how the woman feels there's a stigma attached to the women who answer the ads for ovum donation and complete the process.
1688 wordsRead More - Surrogacy Should be Banned in All Statesanalytical essaySteinbock, Bonnie. "Payment for Egg Donation and Surrogacy." Bioethics in a Changing World. By Jennifer A. Parks and Victoria S. Wike. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. 400-09. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how an article titled "baby m and the question of surrogate motherhood" discusses the oldest court case involving surrogacy.
- Explains emmanuel kant's categorical imperative: treat humanity, whether your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.
- Explains that surrogacy in america is expensive and not everyone can afford it. it is a violation of equality to give some couples opportunities that are not universal.
- Opines that women acting as surrogates are often placed into the practice because they do not have any other choice. mary beth whitehead, a high school dropout, was drawn to it because of her financial status.
- Argues that in vitro fertilization gives couples the opportunity to combine their own egg and sperm to fertilize and implant an embryo of their biological decent into the surrogate.
- Argues that women must go into surrogacy knowing the risks involved and knowing that they are offering their body to someone else’s child.
- Opines that adoption is morally wrong when there are so many orphaned babies without homes. if a couple wants to have family but are physically unable to, it would be good for them to choose adoption.
- Opines that surrogacy is morally wrong because it uses a woman's body as machine, and women are bound to agree to it for the wrong reasons. with all of these negative aspects, adoptions should be considered.
749 wordsRead More - In Vitro Fertilization Essayopinionated essayOne of the most natural and necessary actions in life is that of reproduction. For many families it is not just a natural process, but also a deep desire to have children and raise a family. For those that experience problems with reproduction, because of the development of new medical technologies, there are options like adoption and reproductive assistance. Due to the desire of many to have biological children, these families turn to the option of Assistive Reproductive Technology (ART), including In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), and Third Part Assisted ART (sperm donation, egg donation, or surrogacy) (Assisted). After much consideration and research, it is clear that stances on In Vitro Fertilization are
In this essay, the author
- Explains that reproduction is one of the most natural and necessary actions in life. many families turn to assistive reproductive technology (art), including in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination and third part assisted art.
- Explains the steps of in vitro fertilization, including the stimulation of egg maturation, egg retrieval, and embryo transfer.
- Explains that many conservative and religious groups are against in vitro fertilization for several different reasons.
- Compares in vitro fertilization and other assistive reproductive technologies, arguing that it would be foolish not to take advantage of a process that can offer hope to many couples.
- Opines that ivf has the potential to benefit many people but should not be used out of the limits that allow for the value of human life.
1455 wordsRead More - IVF and the New Eugenicsanalytical essayThe addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
In this essay, the author
- Describes the process of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the eugenics movement of 19th and early 20th century.
- Explains that 2.1 million married couples experience troubles with infertility. in vitro fertilization tries to eliminate the problems inherent in the mother and father.
- Describes the process of harvesting eggs and combining them with a man's sperm outside of the body to bypass the problems that cause infertility.
- Explains that as science continues to discover more about human genetics, the entire sequence of human genes is being able to be understood.
- Explains that embryos are examined and screened for genetic diseases before being implanted in the woman. polymerase chain reaction and fluorescent in situ hybridization are used.
- Explains that preimplantation genetic testing was developed to screen for genetic linked disorders or chromosomal abnormalities that lead to health problems that cause the infant to die early in life or live a life of constant pain.
- Argues that scientists are reviving the eugenics movement that led to states passing sterilization laws for defective individuals.
- Argues that the eugenics movement's sentiment that certain individuals are fit to reproduce and that others can grow into people echoes the sentiment of the movement.
- Opines that science has granted millions of families children they otherwise wouldn't be able to conceive naturally. the potential for a resurgence of the eugenics movement is possible if preimplantation genetic diagnosis becomes accepted and commonplace.
- Analyzes harmon's article, "seeking healthy children, couples cull embryos."
- Cites henderson, mark, "first designer babies to beat breast cancer." the times 26 apr 2007.
- Explains fluorescence in situ hybridization fact sheet from the national human genome research institute.
- Opines that ivf patient numbers and success rates continue to rise. human fertlisation & embryology authority.
- Explains the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) fact sheet from the national human genome research institute.
1509 wordsRead More - Infertility and In Vitro Fertilizationexplanatory essayWhen people begin to think of IVF, they conjure images of a mad scientist performing outrageous experiments upon his test-subjects. They also begin to think of Hollywood movies of cloned people creating societies that completely lack human emotion and compassion (“IVF.net”). Unfortunately, these images and fictitious movies have tarnished this medical practice severely. If someone were to step back and leave their cultural norms and preconceived perceptions aside – they would understand that IVF is merely medical procedure utilized to help a couple conceive a child.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the catholic church views ivf as a grievous sin because it removes the congenial act of procreation.
- Opines that the medical process has helped bring their wife and i closer and renewed our hope of a biological family.
- Explains that in vitro fertilization (ivf) is a medical procedure used to help infertile couples conceive.
- Explains that judaism relies on biblical commandments of be fruitful and multiply and the references that the world was not created to be desolate.
- Opines that people can abuse this tool that has helped thousands of couples realize their dreams of a biological child, but should the scrupulous be punished?
- Explains that the nobel prize ignores the ethics of ivf.
- Cites ivf.net's "ivf ethics questionnaire [results]." the human fertilisation and embryology act receives royal assent.
3316 wordsRead More - In Vitro Fertilization Essayexplanatory essayMoreover, people opposed clinics destroying frozen embryos because it is the owner’s property. It is the owner’s (in this case donator) decision to determine what will happen to the embryos. There are people who have emotions towards their embryos. Especially for the donator that undergoes a lot of process creating those embryos. Based on an interview, a donator said that a lot of people put emotions and effort to produce the embryos. Embryos matter because they are special for the people who donated it and it is just a personal feeling. Because of this, they don’t accept their embryos disposed.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that fertilization is an important aspect of human life. without it, the human race will be wiped out in a century.
- Explains that in vitro fertilization is an assisted reproductive technology that helps people who couldn't have a child due to infertility.
- Explains that in vitro fertilization means something that is happening outside, while fertilization is the process of combining the male gamete
- Explains that in vitro fertilization is the formation of zygote by the combination of male and female gamete that is happening outside the body.
- Describes how samuel leopold schenk tried combining male and female gamete of mammalian eggs. gregory pincus and vinzenz enzmann conducted the same experiment using rabbits.
- Explains that patrick steptoe and robert edwards were the first to successfully place the in vitro fertilized eggs inside a couple’s human uterus. louis brown was born in 1978.
- Explains that ivf is the major treatment for infertility. the male semen, ovulatory failure, tubal damage, and other diseases can affect the fertility of the woman.
- Explains that the patient is given a follicle stimulating hormone injection to the ovaries to produce more eggs than normal. then, the male has to donate fresh sperm to be used for insemination.
- Explains the risks of in vitro fertilization, including multiple births, miscarriage, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, and implantation of fertilized eggs in the fallopian tube.
- Explains that people question whether it is ethical for the ivf clinics to discard the unused frozen embryos.
- Explains that embryos are okay to be destroyed because they are technically not a human being yet.
- Explains that legislation is one of the reasons why it is ethical for ivf clinics to dispose of embryos.
- Explains that people think that disposing embryos is the same as abortion or even murder, and that life starts the second after the egg and sperm is fertilized.
- Explains that people opposed clinics destroying frozen embryos because it is the owner's property.
1328 wordsRead More - Rights and Issues of Procreationexplanatory essayIn addition to artificial insemination, the process of in-vitro fertilization has raised some major controversies that are centered on whether it is morally acceptable to meddle in the reproduction process. As part of the process of medically assisted procreation, in-vitro fertilization and its associated therapeutic approaches are used to enable infertile and untreatable couples to have children. The most common form of in-vitro fertilization is intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which enables clinicians to palliate most of masculine pathologies in order to deal with male infertility. While in-vitro fertilization has helped in dealing with male and female infertility, there are several potential risks associated with it including embryonic decrease, multiple pregnancies, cloning, risk of transmission of infectious disease, choice of donors, and donor motivation (Germond, n.d.). These issues emerge from the fact that the process involves the practice of surrogacy, a third party through genetic material donation, cryopreservation of and experiments on pre-embryos, and genetic manipulation.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that procreation has attracted huge concerns and debates in the recent past, especially because of the development of modern reproductive assistance technology. artificial insemination has generated huge controversies.
- Explains that in-vitro fertilization and its associated therapeutic approaches are used to enable infertile and untreatable couples to have children.
- Explains that abortion has become a major controversial issue that has generated differing opinions from pro-life supporters and prochoice advocates. access to safe abortion is an important issue to women's health and independence over their bodies.
- Explains that stem cell research and cloning are important issues in procreation. the process involves the destruction of stem cells, which could develop into fully formed human.
590 wordsRead More - In Vitro Fertilization Argumentative Essaycomparative essayIn the World, there are a lot of couples who are unfortunate and are unable to be able to give birth to children, making them infertile. There are a lot of different methods of contraceptives that infertile parents can use to have a baby, but the one I will be talking about today is IVF: In-vitro fertilization. There are hundreds of thousands of test tube babies living in the world right now, and is a very known method of having babies. According to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), in the year 2002, about 2%, which is 1.2 million of the 62 million American Women, had a doctor’s appointment related to infertility, and most of those appointments were for IVF. (Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/babies-today/) The IVF treatment was invented in order to grant infertile couples the happiness of having a child, however, it is when fertilization occurs outside the body. On Average, 1 in 8 American couples experience infertility, and 1.1 million of these peo...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that with an increasing knowledge and understanding of the natural world including ourselves, we are now in a position to manage not only our environment but also our own biology including our reproduction.
- Explains that while japan and germany worry about a falling birth rate and an aging population, other countries such as china and india are trying to increase the life expectancy of their people and reduce birth rates.
- Explains that infertile couples are unable to conceive naturally and seek medical help. in-vitro fertilization is an effective contraceptive.
- Explains that in vitro fertilization is a major treatment of infertile couples, and is done when other methods of contraception have failed.
- Explains the process of in vitro fertilization, wherein the sperm and eggs are mixed together in a petri dish or test tube.
- Explains that the ivf treatment is effective and has resulted in over 190,000 live births over the years.
- Compares the pros and cons of ivf, stating that it has raised moral issues and disrupted religious beliefs.
- Explains that the catholic church does not support ivf because it separates the unitive and the procreative aspects of marriage.
- Explains that ivf treatment is a business that allows doctors and surgeons to earn money, but it also shows the economic gap of the world.
- Concludes that the ivf treatment is a very efficient contraceptive, and is reliable. in the world right now, there are more than 190,000 babies that were born using it.
1573 wordsRead More - America Needs to Perform Embryonic Researchanalytical essayOnly twenty years ago, embryo freezing (cryopreservation) was considered a technique that raised “disturbing,” “extremely difficult,” “incredibly complex,” and even “nightmarish” ethical issues. Currently, however, at least 41 of the 169 infertility clinics in the United States have begun to implement in vitro fertilization protocols (IVF) (Freemann et al., 1986). The number of frozen embryos in this country nearly tripled, from 289 to 824, between 1985 and 1986 (Van Steirteghem and Van Den Abbel, 1988). An estimated ten infants in the U.S. and sixty in the world were born as of 1988 after having been frozen as embryos. The government and professional advisory groups have endorsed embryo cryopreservation in several countries, but despite these developments, human embryo freezing is still not universally accepted. The fact that freezing lengthens, perhaps indefinitely, the period of embryonic existence outside and independent of the human body allows new options for manipulation of the embryo and for its ultimate fate. As a consequence, the emerging technology raises a number of issues that challenge deeply embedded ethical principles.
In this essay, the author
- Explains why embryo cryopreservation is preferred over sperm/ovum donation and other methods of fertilization.
- Argues that embryo research should be restricted to "spare embryos" because the research industry views them as an instrumental means to knowledge.
- Explains that embryo freezing is a scientific technique that utilizes extremely cold temperatures to freeze or suspend an organism for storage and ultimately future use.
- Explains that cryopreservation maximizes the benefits of ivf in at least three ways.
- Opines that research on embryos created for research purposes alone is acceptable only if strict guidelines are followed and approved by ethical boards.
- Summarizes bonnicksen, caplan, freemann, trounson, and kirby's report on human in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.
2418 wordsRead More - Lab Creates Human Embryos for Stem Cell Researchexplanatory essayIn this case, scientists approached donors and informed them that their eggs and sperm would be used to develop embryos for stem-cell research.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that eastern virginia medical school scientists created human embryos from donated eggs and sperm for the sole purpose of harvesting embryonic stem cells for research.
- Explains that embryonic stem cells can mature into any cell or tissue and may be used to repair or replace damaged tissue or organs for disorders such as alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, parkinson’s and spinal cord injuries.
- Explains that the society believes the researchers are the first in the us to have created embryos explicitly for stem cell research, and was impressed with their thorough study of the ethics involved.
- Opines that using leftover embryos is cleaner (ethically) than using them. there's no question as to what you're going to do with them, tipton said.
- Explains that applied cell technology uses donor eggs, replaces the nuclei of donated eggs with adult cells, and clones the results.
- Explains that president bush is under pressure from patient groups that favor the research and opponents who feel the work is unethical.
- Explains that the jones institute work was criticized by religious conservatives opposed to embryo research and from others who have been working to find middle ground in the heated political battle.
- Explains that the institute's ethics committee concluded that "the creation of embryos for research purposes was justifiable and that it was our duty to provide humankind with the best understanding of early human development."
- Explains that the researchers extracted eggs from 12 women who had signed detailed informed consent documents and were paid $1,500 to $2,000 each.
- Explains that of the 162 eggs collected and inseminated by donor sperm, 50 developed into embryos. the researchers destroyed 40 of those to obtain their stem cells, then isolated three lines, or colonies, that were maintained in culture.
455 wordsRead More