Infertile couples take advantage of students when egg shopping

My sympathy for childless couples runs short when I read their
advertisements in papers seeking egg donors.

If a couple can’t have children for whatever God-given
reason, it just isn’t meant to be ““ plain and simple. I
realize this sounds rather insensitive and heartless, but the
possibilities of raising children don’t end there.
There’s no reason these couples can’t adopt.

Not only do the parents get the opportunity to raise a child as
their own, but they are also giving back to the community by
adopting a child in need of a loving family. For a child, there is
nothing more important than having a parent to protect, love, and
care for him or her. There are millions of children who have no
family to give them the stability, safety, and commitment they
deserve. Thus it is a blessing for both childless couples and
parentless children when infertile couples are given the
opportunity to adopt.

The criteria couples place in the paper for egg donors are
absolutely ridiculous. “Wanted Caucasian woman between the
ages of 18-25, possess no major family medical issues, green/blue
eyes, high SAT scores (preferably over 1400), athletic, at least
5’7 in height.” And the list continues. How very
unfortunate. These people are trying to genetically engineer the
perfect child.

This thought sickens me. With millions of kids homeless,
parentless, and loveless around the world, how can any sterile
couple build a convincing argument against adoption?

I find this form of egg hunting no different from the new
technologies of genetic engineering. These couples selectively
choose characteristics they wish for their child to possess. Simply
put, these couples are egg shopping.

The advertisements take advantage of students by offering them
money without supplying them with the much-needed information about
the pain and possible dangers involved. “Pay your tuition
with eggs” some of the advertisements read. Generally,
couples offer compensation of $2,500 to $5,000 to qualified donors.
And these couples couldn’t stoop any lower than luring poor
college students into making big bucks without having them even
consider the ramifications of donating eggs. These students are
swindled into literally giving away their children.

Infertile couples claim that egg donation is often the last
resort for women whose ovaries cannot produce eggs of their own to
be fertilized. For those women, the donation of another
woman’s egg is key to having children with their partners
that are at least half genetically theirs. Egg donation is used
only for women with significantly diminished egg quality or poor
ovarian supply.

Moreover, infertile women claim they target college students to
appeal to intelligent women to help the childless couples. They
thus call it egg donation and not egg hunting. The money is justly
viewed as compensation for the time and trouble, and not as a way
to entice women to donate eggs.

However, I rest assured that you, my fellow college-mates, will
see things for what they are. I for one won’t be suckered
into believing the ridiculous line of reasoning infertile couples
use to seek sympathy. Egg shopping is wrong.