Some fertility clinics are reporting a surge in the number of women applying to donate eggs or serve as surrogates, The Wall Street Journal reported. The rate for a surrogate is about $25,000. Egg donors receive $3,000 to $8,000.
"Whenever the employment rate is down, we get more calls," Robin von Halle, president of Alternative Reproductive Resources in Chicago, told the newspaper. "We're even getting men offering up their wives. It's pretty scary."
Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said women should not be enticed to put their health and their lives at risk for financial benefit.
"That goes against every tenet of medical ethics," she said. "Serious complications can come into play, including blood clots, liver and kidney damage, future infertility and even death.
"And even if the risks are minimal, this type of idea enters into creating life outside of the marital union, and that’s something Focus on the Family does not support.”
— Jennifer Mesko
