hot document: Primary sources exposed and explained.

The Egg and I

hot document
entries
1234
from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Friday, Jan. 12, 2007, at 2:36 PM ET

Recently, the Abraham Center of Life created a controversial commercial service that allows an infertile woman to custom-build an embryo more or less the same way Dell will let you custom-build a personal computer. The so-called embryo bank has been accused of selling children (the embryos sell for $2,500 a pop) and its methods have been called into question on legal and ethical grounds. Sperm banks have been around for years, but egg donations have only been available since 1984. Since the only place to create a donor egg is inside a human ovary, selling ova has become a thriving business for young women aged 18 to 30. Abraham Center clients choose their sperm donors from the IVF Institute of Fairfax, Va., but its roster of egg donors is currently limited to one young Anglo woman in Arizona and a "blond haired blue eyed" woman in Utah.

The letter you see below and the sample contract on the following three pages offer to pay women "chosen by a client family" up to $15,000 per cycle. "Additional compensation is offered to those donors who have earned a post-graduate degree; have a unique skill, characteristic or trait; or [who have] previously cycled with our program and ... achieved a pregnancy."

hot document
entries
1234
from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Friday, Jan. 12, 2007, at 2:36 PM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Bonnie Goldstein is a former special investigator to the U.S. Senate and investigative producer for ABC News.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Assessing Sarah Palin
| Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, John Podesta and others weigh in.
Colbert King: She's No HillaryEditorial: Is She Ready for This?
PLUS » PostPartisan: Quick Takes from Opinions