Inconceivable

I just finished reading Peggy Orenstein's New York Times magazine story about the increasing use of donor eggs for infertile couples. And I know that I probably shouldn't do this, but I can't help it. I judge. Why? Maybe because I recoil at the idea of harvesting eggs from younger women so that older women can have babies out of their own bodies. Maybe because even in Orenstein's piece, the egg donors are pretty much nameless, faceless egg givers, irrelevant except for their behind-the-scenes role. The story wasn't about them, but about the agony the infertile woman goes through in going through an egg donation.

The infertility industry is a multi-billion-dollar business. If you're willing and able to plunk down $25-$35,000, you too can have some 20-something's eggs put into your 40-something body. I see ads to recruit egg donors in the BART train on my commute to work. To me, it's like we're in this strange, new world where an older woman is reduced to her uterus. And a younger woman is reduced to her young, healthy eggs. A few shots here, an AIDS test there, a Web site to scope out the young, mainly blond, (Ivy League and Jewish? even better) mainly high SAT-scoring Bettys, and you've got yourself an insta-family.

But just because modern medicine can give you this option, does not mean you should take it. Women over 40 can stall the inevitable aging process with botox, breast lifts and lipsuction. And now they can add to that list birthing babies. Orenstein's argument is that by keeping the egg donor detail under wraps only adds to the stigma of having an egg donor baby. Bust this out in the open, she says, and just make it one more option for couples who want kids. After all, she tried it, and she wrote a book about it.

But once again, the New York Times is showcasing an procedure that is not universal and is not without controversy. It is an option for couples who can afford it and aren't saddled with ethical dilemmas that science has created before philosophy has caught up. In this area, we're barren.