OMG, did you guys hear about this?? Damn!!

By JoannaH Bharose

and Rohandra John

local women are rushing to sell their eggs to a fertility centre in the United States for US$5,000 (TT$30,000) each.

The Washington DC Fertility Centre has been bombarded with telephone calls and e-mails, after an advertisement appeared in the Express on Tuesday asking for egg donations from healthy, non-smoking females between the ages of 21 and 29.

Droves of Trinidadian women have agreed to part with their precious eggs for a childless stranger who is willing to pay US$5,000 per donation.

The centre has been overwhelmed by the response, which beats back any similar request in the DC area.

Susan Ondr, the donor egg coordinator for the Washington DC Fertility Centre, said: “We have had an overwhelming response. We have been very low on donors from Trinidad and when the patient placed the ad, the centre itself did not expect such a response. But the responses are way past fabulous in Trinidad.”

Ondr did not have an explanation for the torrent of calls, which they received, but said their Trinidadian patient assumed “it was the money”.

Dr Lackram Bodoe, a gynaecologist from the Gulf View Medical Centre, said it could be “that the Trinidadian women have a general interest in helping others, but I really can’t speak for them.”

He also agreed that the US$5,000 could also be an incentive for the flood of offers.

The Trinidadian woman who placed the advertisement lives in the United States and wanted an egg from a woman of her own ethnicity, background and culture, according Ondr.

Ondr also said American women were not as eager to respond as the Trinidadians.

Bodoe stated that he knows of only one centre in this country, located in the North, that currently offers In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) but he said while there were women who seek this service they represent a minority.

IVF treatment for childless couples is a costly and time-consuming exercise.

One prominent Port of Spain gynaecologist said it cost more than $40,000 to have it done locally and a “lot of women make the journey to Miami.”

He also stated the success rate is only 15 per cent , “ one in six women, if that”.

According to Bodoe, on a normal basis a woman would produce one mature egg per cycle, but with treatment can produce up to eight eggs per month. There is little or no risk to donors.

Some of the reasons for ovarian failure include decreased ovarian reserve due to premature menopause; previous ovarian surgery; previous radiation or chemotherapy; chromosomal or genetic disorders; history of poor or inadequate response to fertility drugs.

The Roman Catholic Church has condemned any “unnatural” practice with fertility.

According to Father George Pritchett, of the Emmanuel Community, donating eggs is outside the teachings of the church.

“Morally it’s not proper,” he said, adding that it is outside the natural realm, in which “children are to be born into a loving family”.

“It’s obvious all kinds of pressure can be created for money. A woman’s egg carries her DNA, it is part and parcel of the process that God brought to you. You don’t do random things.

There are different problems in the world. The church can’t tell people what to do. It can only tell them God’s plan,” he said.

damn sell yuh eggs for $5000.00 I cyah see that, but hey to each his own , I know thing home are bad but mannnnnnn.

i rather sell it for more than that

Okay I'm having a problem with this:



What di hell a "egg" or an unborn child know bout "culture/background"???? **Scratch mi head** I can understand wanting an egg of a woman from the same ethnicity/race....but shi can get that right here in the US! :

I don't know how I would determine the most suitable price for one of my eggs but . . . to each its own.

If we look on the positive side of it, these eggs will offer greater opportunity to the medical research field and men and women who are having difficulty having children.