New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board is recommending the use of state funds to remimburse women who donate their eggs for research purposes. Are we surprised? No. Are we dismayed? Yes. Back when this embryonic stem cell debate started, lots of people were out there on the front lines -- including some women's rights groups -- warning that low-income women could end up being used and put at risk if ever "reimbursement" became part of the egg donation equation. Well, now New York wants to put that warning to the test.
Poor women, poor families, female college students, single moms -- there are lots of women out there who would never voluntarily put their health at risk and their eggs into circulation for the sake of science. But throw in $5,000 or $10,000 and suddenly moms who can't afford to feed their children are willing to overlook the very serious side effects that often come with this procedure.
"Such aggressive monetary reimbursements have been disallowed in most states, including California and Massachusetts, both of which are enthusiastic about stem-cell research," writes Father Thomas Berg on National Review Online today. "Even the University of Pennsylvania ethicist Arthur Caplan, a pro-cloning advocate, thinks paying women for eggs is a bad idea: 'The market in eggs tries to incentivize women to do something they otherwise would not do. Egg sales and egg rebates are not the ethical way to go.' "
So where are the women's rights groups now? Why is there silence instead of outrage? Poor women will be sacrificed in the name of "science" if money-for-eggs becomes the norm. And the taxpayers will foot the bill.
Read the full story, Scrambled Ethics, by clicking HERE.
DISQUS for OSV Daily Take
