Posted on 11/02/2006 6:39:23 AM PST by NYer
A young woman has put her eggs for sale on the internet to pay off £15,000 of credit card debts.
Alexandra Saunders posted her details on an American website after reading about the huge amount that can be made in a woman's magazine.
The 26-year-old, who already has three jobs to try and pay off her debts, thought it would be an easy way to make money.
It is illegal for a woman to sell her eggs within the UK but egg donation is big business in the US where childless couples pay up to £20,000 in exchange the eggs of a young healthy woman.
Critics warned that many young women were unaware of the potential serious health risks of donating eggs.
They say that many donors are single, childless women in their 20s who are in debt and only interested in financial reward.
Miss Saunders, of High Wycombe, Bucks, admitted that she was lured by the prospect of money.
She said: 'I was sat in a doctor's waiting room and I read about it in a magazine.
'It just said, 'Sell your eggs for thirty grand' or something like that. There was the name of a website at the end of the piece which I can't remember the name of and I just put my name down.
'There was a long list of women who had also put their names down.
'You put down a few details about yourself such as whether you're healthy or smoke and that's it. I haven't heard anything yet but couples can get in touch with me directly.'
Miss Saunders works as a software co-ordinator during the day and works five nights a week in two different pubs, earning a total of about £20,000 a year.
'I'm quite a bit in debt and I just want to get it paid off really. I ran up the debts by just being an idiot.
'I really could do with the money. I told my mum about it and she said, 'Well, if it get's you a bit of money, it's a good idea.'
'The magazine story was saying about girls coming from Britain and going to America and selling their eggs. It just sounds like a good idea - easy money really - and it helps someone out.
'I'm using them so, if someone else can, it would be good and clear me out of a hole too.'
A change in the law last year means that, at the age of 18, a child born from donated eggs can be told who their biological mother is.
The lack of anonymity is putting off many potential donors.
In the UK, egg donors can only receive 'compensation' for expenses incurred which has also contributed to a shortage of voluntary donors.
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: 'The sort of money on offer in the US to egg donors is extremely tempting to some but I think at the very least women should be well informed about the risks.
'Egg donation is not like sperm donation. Women's eggs have to be harvested and the procedure can cause infertility, illness and even death.
'That is why people in the US pay such high prices for eggs because of the dangers involved.
'A young woman may think that getting £20,000 for her eggs is worth the risk. But then she might want children at 30 and find out she can't have them.
'Ironically, she then may have to pay the same amount for someone else's eggs.'
I am so sick of everyone here who assumes "high debt=stupid person."
At least she used her "head" (or eggs) to pay it off.
I realize the risk of selling eggs and would generally NOT recommend it.
This is the slippery slope where the governmnet will be paying poor women for their eggs to perform the embryonic stem cell research that causes cancer in 80% of the test animals.
I think she's cute.
That's a different thing. Selling an egg FOR THE PURPOSE of helping another (straight?) couple have a child I think is a GOOD thing. Not for embryonic stem cell research.
I do see your point though.
They took out an egg, not her ovary.
Maybe cause she's closer in age to me...she's 26, I'm 27...I don't know.
It's not an age thing. I've got you beat by 9 years and I think she's quite easy on the eye.
In fact, if she really wants to make some money, I have some other ideas...
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Whoops. Call me a Freeper who doesn't read the whole article.
That said...at least she admits it!
I didn't say I'd RECOMMEND it...but I suppose it's better than prostitution, or stripping, or selling drugs...
Assumes?? RTFA -- she said she "ran up the debts just by being an idiot" (i.e. she just wasted the money, not invested it in something useful or spent it out of genuine necessity).
Yes yes yes...read my last post. Classic case of "Free Republic Article Non-Reading Syndrome."
As I understand it, hormone injections are given to stimulate the production of multipe eggs. These hormones affect every body system, in a young woman, and it's kind of like having a raging case of PMS.
Eggs are "harvested" surgically, and the hormones are discontinued, and the woman hopefully recovers, then. Risks are: blood clots (heart attack, lung embolism, stroke), risk of surgical infection, risk of permanent damage to the ovaries or Fallopian tubes.
There's a good chance that the child will grow up with two daddies and no mother. "Recent research" tells us that this won't matter a bit, and the child will do just fine. If you feel comfortable with this conclusion then I suppose there's no problem.
Good point, and no, I'm NOT OK with it.
Health risks of doing this are bad enough. I do wonder if you can "choose" the couple you sell to.
I'm not sure how often a woman can choose the recipients of her eggs, but there is a website for lesbians who want their eggs to go to gays or lesbians.
"Surgically removing body parts for sale is not the sort of resourcefulness I like to see. Not to mention that the procedure is not exactly reversible.
"
Huh? They're taking eggs. She loses one (at least) every month. They're not removing any of her body parts, for pete's sake.
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