More Women Selling Their Eggs for Cash in Slumping Economy

The bills need to be paid. Your family needs to be fed. The student loan repayments aren’t going away anytime soon. And there’s just not enough income to go around, it seems, for more households struggling to adjust to the new reality of higher prices that may be here to stay.

Unless you have I-walk-on-water-credit, you’re not going to qualify for a loan or a home equity line of credit. And for some people, taking on a second job or selling your junk on eBay just isn’t going to be enough. They need a big infusion of cash, and quick.

What to do? For an increasing number of women, one or more egg donations fits the bill. A healthy, young woman in her 20s can earn between $5,000 and $10,000 for a single egg donation, which can be used by an infertile couple who cannot produce a baby on their own.

According to some reports, fertility clinics are seeing a 40% increase in egg donations which they attribute to a worsening economy.1

Aside from certain ethical questions about selling one’s eggs for profit, the procedure is not without physical risk of harm to the donor. Women who are accepted for egg donation (there’s a lengthy vetting process) must undergo up to three weeks of hormone injections to stimulate egg production, not to mention blood tests and ultrasound monitoring by the fertility clinic. Harvesting of the egg is done under general anesthesia and like any surgery, that involves risks, too.

What about you? If you were of the right sex and age, would you donate an egg for a nest egg? Or is it a trend that’s just too extreme to consider?

1 “Egg Donations Up in Weak Economy,” CBS3, October 13, 2008

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