Egg Ban Cracked

Kerry Howley | February 22, 2007

Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will henceforth "allow" women to donate their eggs for research. Donors' payments will be capped to ensure the purity of their motives, but compensation aside, consider that allowing women to donate for free is still somehow controversial.

Critics say the risks are as yet undetermined, and women shouldn't be allowed to put themselves in danger even if their motives are wholly charitable. It's a line of argument you rarely see applied to, say, patriotic men joining a volunteer army. The implication is that women are uniquely vulnerable, tempted not just by cash but by their own adorably feminine altruism.

I sold a batch of ova for some highly questionable motives last year.