The Independent is reporting that female university students are receiving a barrage of requests from overseas IVF clinics to 'donate' their eggs and act as surrogates for wealthy clients. The clinics are offering the women up to £9,000 for their eggs — which could produce their future biological children.

Key Takeaways:

• Women at top universities are being targeted for their eggs, offered tens of thousands of dollars to give them to IVF clinics.

• Many of these women are struggling to make ends meet in college, and they see egg 'donation' as a lucrative side hustle.

• Many may not understand the true implications for their own health and for the children their eggs may help to create.

• The same is happening to men at elite colleges, who are being targeted for their sperm.

The Details:

The alarming research carried out by author Chloe Combi unearths this new age of human trafficking through the procurement of young women's eggs and wombs.

When pro-life organizations give women supplies and resources that allow them to choose life over abortion, the pro-abortion media refers to it as "coercion" and "bribery." But when financially desperate women sell their gametes (which could produce future biological children) and the use of their bodies, it's considered empowering.

The children are the ultimate victims of both the abortion and the fertility industries, but the women currently involved are likely unaware of the effects it has on them. Money often plays a large role, and underprivileged women are the targets.

Combi reported (emphasis added):

Some of those people representing the clinics say that students who respond are not only motivated by financial gain. Deborah Mecerod, founding partner of MyEggBank in the US (which offers successful donors a flat fee of $10,000), argues that many donors are motivated by a sense of wanting to help others have a child.

But speaking to a wide number of undergraduates, I found hundreds who said that the biggest driving factor for their potential interest is the economic reward, although stats on the exact number of global undergraduates involved in the selling of eggs are scarce, due in part to the secrecy of this emerging industry,

Combi explained that for students from wealthy families, the college experience is focused more on just that — the experience. For students from underprivileged families, college involves staying on budget, living at home to save money, and working to make ends meet.

For these female students, being offered $10,000 for their eggs is an offer they feel they can't refuse. That amount of money would significantly ease their financial burdens.

At the time, it seems like they are providing another woman with something they themselves don't need. But the children created are their biological children and may seek them out later in life with some difficult questions to answer.

The Independent article included the story of one female student at the University of Edinburgh, "Jeremiah," who shared:

"For most of us, the romance of university, the kind our parents experienced, which was all parties, balls and Freshers shenanigans, is gone. I grew up wanting a Secret History-type university, you know, all dark academia and secret societies, which was probably what drew me to Edinburgh.

But in reality, I’m living with an aunt way out of town because it’s all I can afford. I’m working in a coffee shop and doing deliveries for a supermarket and there is zero time to sit around discussing Kierkegaard, let alone going to masked balls."

In the US, about 42% of college students are now choosing to live at home to save money. In the UK, 66% of 20-year-old men live at home, as do 58% of 20-year-old women. Saving money and making money are high priorities in order to avoid a lifetime of college debt.

An industry, not a charity

Enter the fertility industry.

After same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. in 2015 and women continued to put off motherhood in favor of their careers, the idea of egg 'donation' and surrogacy became more popular. So did the demand.

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 41% of married same-sex couples under the age of 50 want to have children in the future. Sixty-one percent (61%) viewed having a biological connection of some sort to the child as the best way to become parents, meaning they would choose egg or sperm donation, IVF, and surrogacy over adoption.

As a result, undergraduates at top universities are being targeted by fertility companies offering large financial incentives. Companies in Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, and North Cyprus are the most common, but the US is the most lucrative, with highly desirable women being offered up to $120,000.

Jeremiah was contacted by two egg donation companies that offered her between £3,000 and £9,000 for her eggs:

“The company told me that Oxbridge and the Ivy League are the most in-demand sources of egg donors, but I was acceptable in theory.

You have to go through a load of tests and interviews in order to ‘pass’ as a donor, but I’m so fed up with being skint, I’m going to try it this year. If you don’t pass as a donor, there are other options.

My friend Ellie... who is at Cambridge, has donated two rounds of eggs and is seriously considering becoming a surrogate in her gap year.”

All of this occurred, despite it being illegal in the UK to pay a woman for her eggs.

Ellie is "academic, has model looks, plays sports at a high level and is extremely healthy," reported Combi. But she's putting her health at risk to make money by selling her eggs. "She’s already donated three rounds of eggs in her time at Cambridge, netting her around £10,000 – a small fortune to any financially struggling undergraduate," wrote Combi.

Shannon R.T. Copeland was seeking an egg donor to have a child with her husband. In her search, she had specific qualities she wanted — someone with a Greek background like her own and who was pursuing higher education. Copeland, a Canadian, found an American PhD student who was cum laude with a degree in neuroscience and had a 3.75 GPA and high test scores. She didn't know what university the woman attended, but admitted it would have been nice to know.

“If it had been Harvard I’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, holy — like, bragging rights, right there!’” That “would matter,” she said. “Yeah, for sure.”

She didn't just want a baby; she wanted a baby with specifications.

As for Ellie, a company has asked her to be a surrogate. She stands to make up to $90,000 for carrying a healthy baby to term and delivery, but she would have to relocate to another country, live in the intended parent's home, and follow their rules for her and her body. As Combi admits, it's reminiscent of "The Handmaid's Tale."

One woman, who was rejected as an egg donor but was offered a job as a surrogate, turned it down for that exact reason.

“It sounded creepy,” she said. “It was very Handmaid’s Tale, to be honest, and my parents freaked out about the money being offered. I do think it’s dangerous and you can see why students are such obvious targets. We are all skint and we’ve all been raised to do ‘whatever it takes’ to hustle and make it.”

She is still seeking opportunities with other fertility agencies.

Eggsploitation

What these women may not consider is that the children they help to create are biologically their offspring, and that each of those children has a right to know their biological parents and siblings — and there could be many siblings living within their same geographical area.

They may not think about the implications for those children or the physical risks to their own health.

Dangers for women

It's been over a decade since "Eggsploitation" (2010, updated and expanded version released in 2013) was released, documenting the serious risks of egg donation. The award-winning film follows young women, sought after for their physical attributes and academic success, and the risks associated with egg retrieval.

As one British study noted, “Assisted reproduction cycles usually involve exposure to supraphysiological levels of oestradiol, exogenous gonadotropins, and multiple ovarian punctures, all potentially carcinogenic. Most concern surrounds the risks of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers after such exposures.” There's also the serious risk of Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS).

The women are also often poorly treated as if they are commodities.

As previously reported by Live Action News, Kaylene Breeding sold her eggs in her 20s. Years later, she is suffering from that decision. Her own fertility has been practically destroyed; she was on the verge of a hysterectomy due to endometriosis and adenomyosis, conditions that her doctors said were likely due to the large amounts of estrogen she received during the egg donation process. She lives in chronic pain and said stories of other donors meeting their biological children are near-traumatizing for her.

“They wreck me,” she said, adding that if she knew what egg donation would do to her, she would never have done it. “There’s no amount of money that could cover the pain I’m in.”

Effects on children

Beyond the health risks to women come the risks to the children, both emotionally and physically. One woman, Kathryn Francisco, is donor-conceived and had this to say:

[My friend's] mom said, 'You are so loved.' I just... I didn't feel loved. I felt like trash...

Cara Nuttall, a specialist in children and family law, said young women "need to think about the implications and longer-term impact" of selling their eggs. "It’s easier, when you are younger, to be blind or naive to the longer-term consequences and not think about how it might affect you later in life, perhaps when you are ready to start your own family. You also need to think about practical implications," she said.

She noted that in the UK, the number of eggs a person can 'donate' is limited in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children.

The Bottom Line:

Combi concluded:

What ... becomes clear is how the egg donation process often acts as a gateway for more extreme services like surrogacy; something that Reem Alsalem, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), described as "a system of exploitation and commodification of women and children, which reinforces patriarchal norms and subjects them to economic, psychological, physical, and reproductive violence, including in connection to slavery and human trafficking."

This isn't just true for egg donation. Men at top universities are targeted for their sperm and financially rewarded for it, leading to a generation of people who feel like commodities and don't know who they are biologically — or if the cute girl at the next table might be their sister.