Fertility Clinics Must Stop Treating Women's Bodies as Commodities
IVF Clinics Must Stop Exploiting Women
IVF Clinics Must Stop Exploiting Women
Daily Mail investigations have revealed that some IVF clinics in the UK are essentially bartering their fertility services in exchange for a woman’s eggs.
Rather than a voluntary donation, an important safeguard which reduces the extent to which a woman’s body can be commodified, some clinics are apparently now offering their services in exchange for these eggs.
The commodification of women’s bodies through egg donation is real and not permitting eggs to be sold is one of the safeguards to try to prevent this from happening. Some clinics have found a loop hole by allowing women “free” or discounted treatment, if they agree to donate half of their eggs.
As well as the commodification of women’s bodies, the Daily Mail has uncovered a host of other problems:
• some of the women who donated eggs said they were exploited at a time when they were desperate;
• some clinics target couples who are struggling financially by offering high interest loans;
• some clinics sell ‘add on’ treatments that increase the risk of miscarriage and premature birth;
• career women are misled (or lied) into thinking they can delay motherhood by freezing their eggs – one clinician said the success rates were as high as 65%, when in reality it is more like 15%;
• shockingly, doctors may have covered up the number of women suffering with a potentially fatal IVF side-effect – in some cases fertility drugs can lead to ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) which can cause serious health problems and in rare circumstances, death.
• NHS hospitals let private patients jump queues.
We must call upon the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to investigate these clinics and to end the exploitation of women through egg donation and IVF.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4463792/Exploited-cash-eggs-IVF-...
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/IVF/Pages/Introduction.aspx
https://patient.info/doctor/ovarian-hyperstimulation-syndrome
Sign this petition now!
IVF Clinics Must Stop Exploiting Women
For the attention of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Chair, Sally Cheshire,
Dear Ms Cheshire,
I write to you in regard to the shocking revelations by the Daily Mail that reveal some fertility clinics in the UK are exploiting women desperate to conceive a child.
The Daily Mail reports that some women are being encouraged to “donate” their eggs in exchange for “free” treatment.
Egg donation can have serious adverse effects and the consequences of it must be taken into consideration. Through offering what many of these women desperately want, these clinics are pressuring them into doing something they do not fully know the repercussions of. Some of these women have said they were exploited in doing this.
The unpaid and voluntary nature of egg donation remains a safeguard against the further exploitation of women who, due to their eggs, are at risk of being treated as commodities. This is on clear display in this Daily Mail investigation where in at least one instance, a clinician appears to barter the clinics services in exchange for “free” treatment.
The Daily Mail has also produced evidence that some clinics are making false claims about the success rates of IVF. This is a further injustice as a level of deception is added to a practice which commodifies and risks exploiting women.
I urge you to investigate this and end the exploitation of women in IVF clinics.
