BBC Scotland recruiting young women as egg donors

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jwdg5y8kpo

Chilling.

Not a single word about the risks.

I honestly do think you’d have to be quite low intelligence to do this, do they feel no responsibility towards their own flesh and blood? Imagine you gave away your egg and 18 years later a young adult turns up and tells you they had an awful childhood and suffered abuse at the hands of the strangers you gave your egg to. I’d no sooner give my existing children away to strangers to bring up.

It’s frightening how in recent years, female reproductive systems are reduced to something to be commodified.

Egg donations, surrogacy, womb transplants etc are so risky and yet pushed as something that’s all happy clappy and a kind thing to do.

Sometimes I hate advances in medical science because as usual it’s women themselves that are bottom of the pile.

https://www.uhcw.nhs.uk/ivf/egg-donation/

'Nothing in life is free from risks and egg donation is no exception. The risks are, however, small and serious complications relatively uncommon. The following are the possible risks with their incidences in percentage terms in parentheses.

• 'Pelvic infection (0.3 to 1%)
• Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (0.1-15%)
• Hemorrhage (0.3%)

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome is the most common serious complication. It is caused by the ovary producing too many eggs in response to the drug stimulation. The condition results in abdominal distension and discomfort. We specifically monitor the egg donors for signs of these and, if they indicate, we may stop the programme. When ovarian hyperstimulation occurs it reverses completely over a period of 1-2 weeks. It may become a more serious problem in 1% of women undergoing egg donation and very rarely it can be life threatening. Deaths have been reported as a result of OHSS but you are 10 times more likely to die following natural childbirth than from donating eggs.'''

"Deaths have been reported as a result of OHSS but you are 10 times more likely to die following natural childbirth than from donating eggs.'''

Indeed. But then you're giving birth because you want your own child to love and raise. Not because some stupid advert has convinced you it is the kind thing to do for a stranger.

It's gobsmacking how women are chivvied and shamed into taking these risks. Show me something comparable that men are encouraged do for total strangers.

I did briefly consider doing this altruistically for a family member.

I now thank my lucky stars that I never even mentioned it to them - in the years that followed they then joined a high-control religious group, we had a semi-permanent rift in our relationship and it would have been a colossal mistake.

You just don’t know what might happen.

I actually did do egg donation for a family member years ago, but thankfully it didn't work, the two times with mine they weren't viable and she used someone else's in the end.

It was the most painful, horrific experience I went through and I was v v young when I did it. I've kind of blocked out a lot of the experience. I'm horrified it's being advertised as a thing to just do now. I was kind of emotionally manipulated into it by said family member, now that I'm older and wiser and can see it. However at the time it was seen as supportive and kind. I certainly wouldn't have done it for a stranger.

She's now stopped speaking to me and my whole side of the family now anyway (nothing to do with that, just a whole other stupid reason years later), so that would have been a pretty awful situation if her children had been biologically mine!

There's an enourmous number of newspaper articles about how easy it is, and comments like "why let them go to waste". And according to this article a higher number of egg donors that sperm donors.

https://www.londonwomensclinic.com/ova/articles/london-egg-bank-makes-uk-sourced-donor-eggs-available-to-partner-clinics-for-the-first-time-as-demand-for-egg-donation-rises/

Show me something comparable that men are encouraged do for total strangers.

Altruistic live kidney donation although women do this too.

But we don't see campaigns for kidney donation, do we? Breezy, minimising the risks and the pain involved. Unless I've missed them.

Maybe not but live kidney donation is far more risky than egg donation with potential for long term harm.

The NHS encourages & allows other live organ donations that are more risky than egg donation e.g. a portion of liver

www.organdonation.nhs.uk/become-a-living-donor/

I agree it is a dreadful article and particularly because it is deliberately targeting young women. I have actually done egg donation (and no I am not of low intelligence) but the difference is I had my children already and thought through all the consequences. At the time (about 10) years ago the nurse at the clinic said this was a common senario

Yes, guidance certainly used to suggest women should have already established a family before donating eggs. But more recent campaigns don't seem to even mention this - and in fact seem to be targeting women who haven't.

Agree. There have been very sad cases in America of college students doing egg donation for money then making themselves infertile. 😢

I find it really concerning how they try to downplay the risks. 15% chance of Ovarian Hyperstimulation, but its just a bit of discomfort? Sorry but I've too much experience of women's health care and "this will just be a pinch" to trust that. It also completely glosses over the risk of it impacting your own fertility.

I know.

My point is that it's not being advertised / promoted by the national broadcaster though.

Not is it being selectively promoted to women.

2 massive differences.

I looked at the cost of donor eggs recently, and it was astronomical. Are these women being encouraged to donate so the eggs banks can make thousands? A good newspaper would follow the money

We do actually. I’ve read many articles on it including on the BBC. I’ve been increasingly concerned about the push for people to donate to complete strangers, so without the benefit of helping someone you love and want more time with, with little to no mention of the very real risks. And women are apparently more likely to become living donors but that’s another thread.

That said I’m very glad that a thread was started on this because it’s also despicable. It’s unethical to actively campaign for this imo even more so when it’s coming from an health board and especially with no mention of the very real risks which include death.

Yes @Anewchickenthe ivf clinic I used seemed to make a lot of money from the donor egg process. It feels jarring that there is a big emphasis on women donating being paid just a small amount to cover their expenses, yet there seems no regulator interest in the amount of profit the companies involved are making.

The other aspect I find problematic is egg sharing - where women seeking ivf for reasons such as male infertility, or because they’re in a same-sex relationship, are offered reduced cost ivf in exchange for sharing their eggs. I imagine most women doing egg sharing are doing it for financial reasons - so they can afford their own chance to have a baby. So to me it makes a mockery of the big emphasis on donors not being financially incentivised to donate.

I actually know somebody who did egg sharing, and their first round resulted in a baby for the couple she shared her eggs with, but it didn’t work for her. Which must have been really hard to process.

I’m not advocating by the way for donors to be paid a commerical rate - just highlighting some of the issues.

I don't think it's really anything new - as a society we've been exploiting young women in this way for a very long time. We used to force them into homes for unmarried mothers and take away their babies, but that supply has dried up now, hasn't it, so got to find a new one, and this seems to be it. There were adverts on the inside of the toilet doors in my local shopping centre last year offering £800 from age 18. Lots of 'the most precious gift' and other emotionally manipulative language. It's revolting.

In another 40 years we will be seeing news articles about adults made from donated eggs desperately trying to find their biological mothers.

Read the info for donors on Fertility Scotland. Eggs can be kept for 55 years. A child conceived could potentially sue the donor if you've had an undeclared medical condition. Risks are stated.

'you will need to sign legally binding consent for the storage and use of your eggs. By law, donor eggs can be stored up to 55 years'

'A donor-conceived person born with an abnormality could successfully sue for
damages if it is proven that you withheld relevant facts about your personal and/or family’s medical history when you donated eggs.'

'Donors cannot be given any information that could potentially identify the children conceived from their donation'

'At 18 years old (or 16 if intending to marry), a donor-conceived person can obtain their donor’s identifying information'

'In some very rare cases, women develop ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome'

Stats would be helpful for the OHSS risk, I'd think.

fertility.scot/resource/information-for-prospective-egg-donors/

Also, the difference with organ donation is that it's a life saving act. Eggs/babies are a want not a need.

A while back I saw a US site promoting IVF via egg donation. The language on it was extremely manipulative, referring to the donors as ‘angels’ and talking up their beauty, intelligence, generosity and good intentions. They also had glossy profiles of donors on the website! Not sure how that worked with confidentiality. They all seemed to be college students under the age of 25…😕

Like everything else, Americanisation seems to be creeping in to human fertility medicine.

I too remember that it used to be ‘complete your own family first’. But perhaps that tended to raise the overall age range and led to lower success rates…

So sorry that happened to you.