Fierce online debate breaks out over the ethics of donor eggs

A social media user has sparked a fierce debate after asking people to share their thoughts on donor eggs and embryos – with some branding the practice ethically wrong, and others saying their children wouldn’t exist without it.

The anonymous poster, took to the British parenting forum Mumsnet to open the debate saying that they’ve had fertility treatment and has a sense of how ‘private clinics put you on a conveyor belt and normalise things’. 

One poster, who appeared to feel very strongly, wrote: ‘Personally I think if you can’t have children naturally you have no right to buy body parts/ substances from other people.

‘I would love to hear from children conceived as such once adults, and their opinions and feelings,rather than parents who insist everything is fine because they got what they wanted.’  

However, another commenter said that it’s ‘pretty grotesque’ to debate whether children like her son, who was conceived with donor sperm, ‘should exist’ or not.   

A Mumsnetter sparked a highly contentious debate after asking people for their opinions on using donor eggs to get pregnant (stock image)

The Mumsnet post, titled: What’s the general MN verdict on donor eggs, garnered a large range of varied responses

Kikcing off the debate in the original post, the Mumsnet user said that she’s noticed a ‘critical re-examination’ of using surrogates to carry a child. 

‘I have my own views on that, which I’ll keep quiet for the purposes of this thread,’ she said.

”Now I find myself chewing over other fertility treatments. I’ve had fertility treatment myself and so have family members. So I have a sense of how private clinics put you on a conveyor belt and normalise things.

‘What is the general view on donor eggs and embryos (implanted into the birth mother and gestated by her?’

She asked commenters to say whether they think donor gametes are ‘ethically fine’ or problematic, prompting a hugely divided repsonse.  

A small number of posters offered very strong opinions, saying they felt that donor eggs, sperm, and surrogacy are unethical

A small number of posters felt that egg donation is always unethica, including one who wrote: ‘I’ve come lately and reluctantly to think that all gamete and embryo donation is wrong. 

‘I have a load of embryos frozen myself (from my partner and my gametes) which we thought we’d donate. Now we know for sure we will not. I don’t feel very strongly about it though.’

And a third wrote: ‘Personally no, I think donor sperm/eggs/surrogacy should all be illegal.

‘The problem with all of these procedures is that they are all about someone becoming a parent with very little thought given to the children who are the product of these arrangements.’

A substantial number of responses focussed on how donation can be unethical if people feel coerced into doing it 

However, for many others, they had no concerns over the voluntary donation of eggs, but did worry about the ethics of paying for the procedure, and about times when the process is coercive.

One of the respondents wrote: ‘I don’t really agree with anything that treats children as a commodity. So no issue about assisted conception using own eggs & sperm, or altruistic donation / surrogacy (by friends / family etc). But anything you pay a stranger to use… no, I don’t think that’s right.

‘And I say this as someone who can’t have biological children, and has taken the decision not to use donor eggs and therefore has had to accept this means not being a parent (wouldn’t be approved to adopt).’

Another added: ‘The problem I have with them isn’t on the receiving end (the expecting parents) but the donor end. 

‘Often young women are targeted to sell/donate their eggs and it is always portrayed as an easy way to make money, comparable to sperm donation. 

‘In reality it takes weeks of preparatory hormone injections followed by invasive surgery (and they always take more eggs than they really need, to ensure the best chances of success) and a recovery period which is not adequately compensated for. I really do think it’s a terrible example of the commodification of women’s bodies.’

And a further Mumsnetter added: ‘Poor people selling bits of their body to people who have more money.’ 

For many posters, the use of donor eggs and sperm is ethically sound, with one respondent explaining that as those taking part are adults, it is ‘fine’

But a significant number of respondents said they had no ethical issues with the procedure, with one writing: ‘I think it’s fine. Don’t have any problem with it at all.’

Another simply added: ‘It’s absolutely fine.’  

A third felt more strongly, saying that not only was is this type of procedure ethically sound, even having an argument over it is grotesque, because it questions whether children conceived by these methods should exist.

They wrote: ‘I gave birth to my son, he was conceived from my wife’s egg and donor sperm.

‘My opinion is that other people debating whether my child and thousands like him conceived from donor gametes should exist or not is pretty grotesque.’

They were supported by another Mumsnetter who wrote: ‘What a disgusting thread. As if the heartache of infertility or having a genetic disease isn’t painful enough. 

‘Now this, a thread on a site used by many, many mothers of donor egg babies, to be criticised and judged by other, frankly, callous, ill informed, utterly clueless women.’