Ova Time: Women Line Up to Donate Eggs for Money

With the United States in a recently declared recession and everyone affected, belts are beginning to tighten all around the country, and in this economic crisis, clinics are now reporting a surge in the number of women donating eggs for money or attempting to become surrogate mothers.

In some reproductive agencies, the amount of would-be egg donors has been up almost 30% in recent weeks—about 60 calls a day. There is no longer a wait for egg donors with the offers coming in so rapidly for donation. Even advertisements are running that call for specific traits; for example, “100% Jewish with… high SAT scores… attractive, at healthy body weight and free of genetic diseases.”

This squeeze on the economy is bringing women of all backgrounds into our surrogacy world—women who have college loans, who want to buy a house, or who need to provide for their own children’s education.

In all this uproar for eggs and surrogates, the women who are only looking for some quick cash get turned down—most agencies, including West Coast Surrogacy, only accept a tiny fraction of applicants, and the qualifications are stringent. There are numerous disqualifiers for the candidates as well as requirements of appropriate weight for their height and very good health.

Despite the rise in egg donations and surrogacy applicants in this recession, there has been no drop in demand for donor eggs despite the costs of each attempt. Many of the couples seeking egg donors and surrogates are from Europe, where paying for such surrogacy services is illegal and waits can take many years.

Read more on this topic in the Wall Street Journal;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122878524586490129.html