The Egg Bank was offering me egg extraction and two years of storage for free, in exchange for donating half of the collected eggs for use in its IVF clinic. It’s presented as an altruistic project – though in 2021 (the last year for which data is available) the London Egg Bank registered £784,603 in profit. Couples struggling for a child will pay almost anything for a chance at a family.
It’s not just the London Egg Bank that’s on the hunt for donors. Almost all my young female friends have noticed a rise in the number of egg donation adverts they’re being served across many social media sites, from places such as Altrui, Care Fertility, Manchester Donors and many more.
It’s all presented so breezily as if this is an entirely uncomplicated business, but it’s not. Young women are asked to give their eggs (an invasive procedure not without risk) without having any of the downsides flagged to them. Here, everyone is #inspirational, but these egg banks make little reference to the fact that a child may be born sharing your DNA – and that child, your biological son or daughter, may well be in touch in later life. None of the adverts immediately mention the psychological impact of becoming a mother to a child who won’t be yours. Legally, egg banks have to offer donors counselling – but that’s only once they’ve started the process of donation, and not everyone accepts it.
Source: Why is social media pushing young women to donate our eggs? | The Spectator