Egg donation and surrogacy have been lauded as ways not only to make a large sum of cash, but also to help those in need. But whether it’s an exploited military wife or a college student pressured by financial desperation, the truth about the practice is heartbreaking.
“A new study came out … that showed almost half of people who sell their gametes go on to regret it,” Kallie Fell tells Allie Beth Stuckey, who points out that gametes are eggs or sperm.
“I just am thinking back to that college student who’s enticed by the financial gain and her altruistic motives are exploited. And just to think that half of them regret that or wonder where their children might be,” she continues.
Many of those who choose to sell their eggs or sperm are advertised to on social media, which Stuckey has noticed via large mom influencer accounts.
“I don’t know if these people are being paid, but I see a lot of influencers, who they’re mom influencers, and all of a sudden they’re on this surrogacy journey. I just saw Miss Rachel, who I know a lot of people love. Seems like a very sweet person and a very good mother. She just welcomed a child via surrogacy,” Stuckey says.
“And it just adds to this narrative that surrogacy … is this altruistic, you know, benign, benevolent process that goes on. But it’s not,” she says, asking Fell, “Would you say that surrogates are exploited in the same way that egg-sellers are?”
“Absolutely,” Fell responds. “I think a different population is often targeted for a surrogate mother than an egg donor. They’re two very different populations. Surrogate mothers … it seems like more and more are contacting me daily with their horror stories.”
“Surrogate mothers tend to be women who, again, very altruistic. They want to help. They had easy pregnancies. They typically have small children at home, but they’ve had easy pregnancies and they’ve had a friend or someone else they know that struggled with infertility and they want to give the gift of life,” she continues.
But it’s not just their altruism that draws them to surrogacy.
“I found too in our research that military wives are another big target … from fertility agencies for surrogacy because they’re at home with small children. They’re often hard to employ because they’re moving around a lot with their partners in the military. And this is a way that they can contribute to their household and also help another family,” Fell explains.
And unfortunately, the risks of surrogacy are not fully known — as it’s a fairly new artificial process.
“Surrogates have to be pumped with hormones as well in order to carry the child, because you have to be in the same part of your cycle that you would be if a naturally, you know, a fertilized egg was going to implant into your uterus. So your endometrial lining has to be just right,” Fell explains.
“We don’t know all the consequences of that,” she says.
What they do know is that surrogates tend to be higher risk and have increased numbers of C-sections, preterm births, placental abruptions, placental abnormalities, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, “all of these things,” she continues, adding, “The list goes on.”
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