An interesting story in the papers today about a woman who put her eggs up for sale on the internet, apparently not realising that it is illegal to do so in the UK.
The woman - a 28-year-old businesswoman - claimed she needed to sell her eggs to pay off her student loans and was hoping to make more than £4,000 for her trouble. She had apparently read about how much egg donors could earn in a magazine which suggested many women in the UK were already selling their eggs. She posted her ad on a website where she said she'd seen another woman advertising her eggs for sale. The ad was accepted without any problems, and she had no idea that what she had done was illegal.
The woman admitted that her family had been horrified by her plans, fearing that she might regret her decision in the future. However, she remained confident that this would be a good way to pay off her debts whilst helping a childless couple.
Should we be shocked by this? Is it wrong? At the moment in the UK, although it is illegal to advertise human eggs for sale and you can't get paid for donating eggs, you can receive "reasonable expenses" but what constitutes "reasonable" is a grey area. The HFEA is currently reconsidering the rules on payment for egg and sperm donors, and this may clarify matters in the future.
You can read more here
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