Unethics in IVF Prove Need For Regulation

It is too little known that young women who allow themselves to be egg harvested risk very serious complications (as exposed in the CBC’s Eggsploitation).  For women to give actual informed consent, this information should be disclosed.  But apparently, many IVF recruiters don’t want to scare off potential egg suppliers and don’t abide by other ethical considerations.  From the Reuters story:

Women are recruited to donate eggs to fulfill a growing demand by couples seeking in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but a number of websites seeking to recruit them ignore standards set by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).”I would argue that there needs to be more attention from ASRM about these agencies, because you don’t want these women exploited,” said Robert Klitzman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia  University and lead author of the study that appeared in the journal Fertility & Sterility.

Please. There is big money in them thar hills.

Ethical standards set forth by the ASRM specify that donors should be at least 21 years old, and those between ages 18 and 20 should receive a psychiatric evaluation first. Also, women are not to be paid for their eggs but compensated, equally, for their time. Donor traits such as college grades or previous successful donations should not result in higher payment. But abiding by the recommendations is voluntary, and the guidelines carry no legal authority, though ASRM will sanction members who do not adhere to the guidelines. But that doesn’t cover non-member organizations. “Our ability to influence the behavior of non-members is pretty limited,” said Sean Tipton, a spokesperson for ASRM.

And yet, the industry fights adamantly against government regulation at every turn.  So, even if “ethical” clinics don’t violate the inadequate voluntary guidelines themselves, they are complicit in the unethical eggsploitation.