egg donation

I Sold My Eggs and Paid With My Health

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Welcome back to Venus Rising! One of the main commodities in the ever-growing infertility industry is human eggs. Young women all over the world are targeted by ads to “donate” their eggs. Who are these women and what are the risks to their health?  In this episode I have the opportunity to talk with Kylee […]

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I Sold My Eggs to Save My Mom from Eviction

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In the early 2000s, Liz Scheier’s mom was facing eviction, so Liz, like many young women, turned to egg donation to raise funds to escape financial crisis. Over the next several years, Liz underwent a total of three rounds of egg retrieval.  In the years since, Liz has spent a significant amount of time analyzing […]

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Championing the Donor-Conceived Community

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Wendy Kramer is Co-Founder and Director of the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). The DSR was founded in 2000 by Wendy and her donor-conceived son Ryan to assist individuals conceived as a result of sperm, egg, or embryo donation who are seeking to make mutually desired contact with others with whom they share genetic ties. With 72,000 members […]

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I Donated My Eggs and Got Stage 4 Cancer

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Maggie was a young, bright-eyed college student when she was first recruited as an egg donor. She eagerly signed up to donate her eggs with plans of helping families while earning some money for her future. Instead, she got stage 4 invasive ductal carcinoma, a diagnosis she is certain she acquired as a result of […]

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Movie Review: Ghosts of the Republique

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Last month, film director Jonathon Narducci released Ghosts of the Republique, a full length documentary that chronicles a French gay couple’s international surrogacy journey. We first meet bright eyed, soft spoken Nicolas and Aurelian as they prepare for their wedding day, two gentle, charming souls who share genuine affection and desire nothing but to live […]

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Human Experimentation Without Consent Is Basis of a Growth Industry

That we would allow humans to be experimented on without their knowledge or consent sounds like something out of the past. But in the world of assisted reproduction, more commonly called in vitro fertilization (IVF), it happens by the tens of thousands each day, all around the world, to human embryos. Allow me to explain. IVF is […]

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Counting Our Blessings

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Dear friends, Every autumn as the holidays start to approach, I become acutely aware of all of the wonderful people in my life. Gratitude seems to permeate throughout the air at this time of year, and I want you to know just how incredibly grateful the CBC is for you and your support. I hope […]

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The Global Market for Human Eggs

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Join us for an informative new episode of Venus Rising as we speak with cultural and medical anthropologist, Dr. Diane Tober. Dr. Tober is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco Institute for Health and Aging and faculty at the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health. Her work and research is focused on […]

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This Week in Bioethics #110

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1. Update on New Jersey and New York As I write, we’re waiting to hear whether New Jersey Governor Murphy is going to sign the surrogacy-enabling legislation on his desk. Meanwhile, hearings are scheduled in New York for later this month on a bill seeking to legalize surrogacy in the Empire State. We are keeping […]

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Consuming Fertility

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The Washington Post recently ran an article outlining a whole range of ways in which the business of fertility is reaching new heights of consumerism as consumers go about consuming more and more fertility products and services. Would-be parents seeking donor eggs and sperm can pick and choose from long checklists of physical and intellectual […]

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This Week in Bioethics

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1. Egg “Donation” and Its Consequences We were contacted this week by Leah, a young woman who “donated” her eggs this summer. She found us as she researched how to deal with the complications she suffered, and continues to suffer, in the wake of her “donation”. Five days after her egg retrieval, her husband took […]

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Leah Used to be a Happy, Healthy Person. Then She “Donated” Her Eggs…

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It seems not a week goes by without hearing from someone who has been harmed by either egg “donation” or surrogacy. Today is no different. This morning I sat down at my desk and began reading a story from Leah who sold her eggs in June of this year for $7,000. I asked Leah how […]

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BREAKING: Follow-up, Research, and Informed Consent

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Our Jennifer Lahl along with our colleagues Jennifer Schneider and Wendy Kramer have a very important commentary piece in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online. The title of the piece is “Long-term breast cancer risk following ovarian stimulation in young egg donors: a call for follow-up, research and informed consent,” and it argues that because no […]

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A Call for Follow-up, Research, and Informed Consent

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Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Schneider, Wendy Kramer, and our own Jennifer Lahl. They’ve just received word that their paper, “Long-Term Breast Cancer Risk Following Ovarian Stimulation in Young Egg Donors: A Call for Follow-up, Research, and Informed Consent” has been accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online. As those of you who follow […]

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2016 Winners and Losers

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Each year at this time we look back over the past twelve months with an eye toward identifying those whose lives and work actively promoted and affirmed a truly human future, and those who did not. Winners: Stephanie Packer is more than a winner; she really is a hero. Sitting down with her while making […]

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Live from Washington State

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Yesterday I flew to Seattle, Washington, to meet with the staff of U.S. Senator Patty Murray. I was in D.C. a few months ago, meeting with the Senator’s staff on Capitol Hill because of the Senator’s leadership role in a bill that would provide IVF benefits to our wounded vets. As an educational non-profit, we […]

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This Week in Bioethics

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1. When is it Too Old to Have a Baby? Another post-menopausal woman (age 62), along with her 78 year old partner, has just given birth, making her Australia’s oldest mother, thanks to IVF. The Australian Medical Association has denounced this birth as “selfish and wrong” with no consideration for the child’s best interest. This […]

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This Week in Bioethics

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1.  Can You Imagine That Anonymous Sperm and Egg “Donation” are a Problem? CBS’s Sunday Morning program this week ran an item on “The Flourishing Business of Building Family Trees,” highlighting widespread interest in genealogy and the businesses that are helping people in their searches. The report is bookended by the moving story of 55 […]

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