Did you know that the egg donation market in the United States alone is valued at close to $400 million dollars? It’s a rapidly growing industry driven by several factors, including women opting to get pregnant later in life, as well as infertility rates being on the rise.
This 18-year-old girl has been with her 19-year-old boyfriend for two years so far, and both of their families are encountering financial hardships at the moment.
“Although my parents earn what is typically a comfortable salary, they were not prepared to pay my substantial college tuition; they are graciously making ends meet to do so,” she explained.
“Additionally, my brother has been dealing with addiction issues, which have been a huge source of conflict and financial burden for my parents. Stress is terrible for them, as they both have a severe history with cancer.”
“This all goes to say that I feel deeply guilty for being a burden on my parents and would do anything to alleviate their financial stress. To make matters worse, my boyfriend’s family earns much less than mine, to the point where he cannot afford to pay for the remainder of his education. I am incredibly anxious about these circumstances.”
She currently attends Harvard University, and she learned about a quick way to make some cash: there’s a fertility clinic online that promises to give egg donors with Ivy League educations a ton of money.
She understands this is bizarre and snobbish, but she came across their website and read about one woman who earned a lot more than $200,000 after undergoing several rounds of egg donation.
She told her boyfriend about the opportunity, and he zealously told her no. He said it made him uneasy that she could have a kid out there who was fathered by another man.
She emphasized to him that the money would help them both out significantly, and she could donate her eggs anonymously, thinking that would alleviate his concerns. Her boyfriend doubled down and said he would never, ever change his mind.
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“I disliked his attitude during the discussion and found it blind to our financial circumstances. I also believed that his immediate ‘absolutely not’ was infringing on my bodily autonomy; I can see how this choice may psychologically affect him, but they are not his eggs,” she added.
“This portion of the story is slightly regrettable on my part. Communication is incredibly important in our relationship, but I was really curious about how much money I could practically make through this process, so I consulted the clinic (simply to find out more about compensation, no official agreement, of course).”
“Due to certain genetic markers and my academic standing, I was told I could make over $80K on my first round of donation (compensation increases exponentially every round, since previous successes prove that the eggs are retrievable). This could realistically mean $500K+ total after multiple rounds.”
She has attempted to bridge the conversation with her boyfriend once more, but he’s furious with her for not moving on and dropping the subject.
She’s left wondering if her boyfriend has the right to tell her what to do here and if she should go ahead with donating her eggs without his permission.
I don’t think her boyfriend is being unreasonable in not wanting there to be children from her out there in the world who were technically made with other men (even if she didn’t sleep with them).
That makes a lot of sense to me that he’s upset about that if he plans on spending the rest of his life with her and starting a family one day.
Her bringing up the subject over and over again isn’t going to help shift his position; he’s obviously not going to. So I think she has two options here: she can go ahead anyway with donating and be prepared for him to dump her, or she can respect his wishes and value that over the money she can make.
What do you think?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
