Sunday, January 25, 2009

Your Gamete, Myself*

This article discusses new technology available that allows women to find an egg donor to help them try to get pregnant. This process is extremely expensive and the women spend a lot of time to find the perfect donor. I found it extremely interesting that these women search through catalogs of donors to find a perfect match. Its almost as if they're shopping for new clothes or appliances in a stores catalog. Although it seems strange that these women are shopping for women whose eggs they want I think that if I was in that situation I would be spending a lot of time to carefully select the perfect donor. I would certainly want to make sure that my child got the genes of a smart, athletic, attractive individual to give them the best chance of succeeding in life. Another point that is brought up in the article is whether the parents choose to tell the child that they were conceived using an egg donor. If it were me I'm not sure that I would tell my child or not. In one way if I was that child I would definitely want to know how i am to be in the world but on the other side it is awkward for your son or daughter to know that you are not your real mother. The author mentions the question of why not just adopt opposed to finding an egg donor because donors are much more expensive and there are a lot of children in the world in need of families. In this case although I believe that it would be good to adopt and help out a child in need of a loving family I can see why couples would want to find a donor. The child would then at least have their fathers genes and the mother could feel more attached to the baby because she actually goes through pregnancy and breast feeding. All together I find this process fascinating and very helpful for couples who have trouble starting a family of their own.

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