Egg Donations

There is big news out of New York for the science world. The state will now allow taxpayer-funded researchers to pay women for giving their eggs for embryonic stem cell research. You heard that right. They are going to pay them. Why? Well, solicitations for the free donations for these eggs have come up empty. Nada. Goose egg. So, by offering $10,000, the state of NY believes they have answer. The opponents to the plan feel this could lead to exploitation of some women who in a down economy would do anything for cash. The USA Today is reporting that this is a real phenomenon with a definite spike of interest since February. That is countered with arguments that payment is already given in fertility cases – think of Michael Jackson’s kids – where cash is paid for eggs without any henpecking. So the battle lines are drawn but the voice that is now being heard, to no surprise, is the one from men. What could their issue be? Simple (and I know I am walking on egg shells here) but the difference in what men and women get paid in this arena is huge. Women get $10,000! Do you know the cost of the donation at a sperm bank? $100! Now does this mean we as men are worth a 100 times less? This is the kind of scrambled thinking that can get people in trouble. The answer is maybe. What men must understand is that the procedure to extract the eggs for women is much more difficult and not always successful. As they say, you may have to break a few eggs to make and omelet and that rings true for women as this procedure can only occur once a month and comes at the price of hormone injections as well a particularly painful procedure to extract them. Obviously, for men, that is not the case. I once knew a guy in college who donated so often that if it was made into an Olympic sport he would have been disqualified for being a “professional”. So for this issue men need to stop whining because no one is listening. As Margaret Thatcher once said, “The cock may crow but it's the hen who lays an egg”. I have no idea what that means but it was the only way I could end this entry.