Here’s What ABC World News Did, and Did Not, Get Right in Report on Egg Donors

by Diane Tober / Associate Executive Director, Center for Genetics & Society ABC World News joined other media this week in addressing the astonishing 74 percent rise over the past 10 years in young women providing their eggs so that other women can create families. Correspondent Cynthia McFadden interviews egg “donors” and fertility practitioners to explore the risks of egg retrieval, and chats with anchor Diane Sawyer about the story. While the segment lets several misleading statements stand, it gets some important things right. First, the report is clear about the point that young women, primarily college students, are recruited to become egg providers with offers of thousands of dollars (yet use of the term “egg donor” for what is a commercial transaction is misleading). Women who are considered better-looking are typically paid more, as are white and Asian women, and those who have higher SAT scores and/or athletic skills. More money also goes to “proven donors” — women whose eggs have been used by “intended parents” to achieve a successful pregnancy. The story also correctly reports — and expresses appropriate surprise about — the lack of short- or long-term tracking of egg providers’ health and the fact that there is no national database for egg providers. As Dr. Jennifer Schneider points out in the segment, egg providers are “not considered patients — they’re considered more like vendors.” They essentially disappear...
Source: Our Bodies Our Blog - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: Media Reproductive Technology & Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs