{"id":318191,"date":"2024-09-05T14:48:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T19:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=318191"},"modified":"2024-09-05T00:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T05:02:23","slug":"disturbing-reality-egg-donation-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/disturbing-reality-egg-donation-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"The disturbing reality of egg donation is being exposed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new book is taking aim at the fertility industry for preying on women, lying to them about the risks of egg donation, and even practicing eugenics. Medical anthropologist Diane Tober spoke to Newsweek<\/a> about her research into egg donation, and the disturbing information she found.<\/p>\n

“Little information”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“When I first started conducting research with egg donors, about 10 years ago, I was shocked by how little information most donors had about potential risks and benefits,” she said. “I was also stunned to hear from so many of them who had had some pretty awful unanticipated side effects.”<\/p>\n

Tober said women were frequently told that the risks associated with egg donation were less than 1% possible. In actuality, the risks are serious, and much higher. “In fact, the few articles that had been published found that immediate complications, for example, for a common side effect known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), was much higher – somewhere between 5 to 13 percent, depending upon the article,” Tober said. “I also discovered that there had been no longitudinal studies specifically looking at the impact of egg donation on donor health and well-being over time.”<\/p>\n

OHSS is a response to the excess hormones women are administered during the process, where the ovaries swell and become painful. In severe cases, this can be life-threatening. Yet, in surveying over 1,000 women, Tober said most reported receiving inadequate information about the potential risks and long-term impacts of this procedure.<\/p>\n

Similar criticisms were made in Scotland, when the government launched a campaign<\/a> encouraging women to donate their eggs. “The pastel-coloured adverts all feature words such as \u2018love\u2019 and \u2018hope.\u2019 Also present are phrases such as \u2018give the gift of being parents,\u2019 \u2018give the joy of starting a family\u2019 and \u2018help bring joy to someone.\u2019 If one wishes to target young women reared as part of the \u2018be kind\u2019 generation, this is the ideal language to use. Yet nowhere did any of the adverts list the side effects or risks associated with egg donation,\u201d Helen Gibson of Surrogacy Concern wrote for Unherd last year.<\/p>\n

Wendy Kramer, director and co-founder of the Donor Sibling Registry, likewise pointed out that the risks of egg donation are downplayed to women. Far from the risk being low, Kramer said evidence shows<\/a> the risks of complications like OHSS are substantial. “In our first published study of 155 egg donors, we found that 30.3% reported Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS),\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn our second survey of 176 egg donors in 2014, we found that 32.4% of egg donors reported complications such as OHSS and infection. In our third Study of 363 egg donors in 2021, 22.4% reported experiencing OHSS.\u201d<\/p>\n