The High Price of In Vitro Fertilization :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The High Price of In Vitro FertilizationMAKE A DREAM COME TRUE.GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE BE AN screwball DONOR. $6,500 STIPEND AND EXPENSES PAID. When twenty-year-old mare Slone first saw the ad in her college newspaper, she remembers thinking, Damn, thats a lot of money She called up immediately, envisioning an egg-plucking process that would be as quick and effortless as sperm donation. Disappointingly, the receptionist at fair sex to Woman Fertility Clinic didnt give her the time of day, mostly because that was stand spring and Maria wasnt twenty-one yet, but also because she seemed a tad too money-hungry for the well-to-do clinic. Looking back, Maria smiles a slight sheepishly. Now, one year later, and halfway through the process of donating her eggs to an sterilized couple, she knows what shes in for, both emotionally and physically. Already, shes wrestled with the idea of merchandising her genetic material to strangersshes taking the unusual step of merging with the co uple who chose her genes from a stack of manila folders. And now shes overcoming a lifelong abhorrence of needles by playing doctorshes come ining a syringe full of milk into a grapefruit, mentally bracing herself for the ovary-stimulating hormones shell inject into her own thighs and buttocks for ten days next month. But Marias taking both the emotional and physical sacrifices in whole step because at the end of Augustafter ten or much of her eggs are retrieved from her ovariesthe Woman to Woman Fertility Clinic will come her a $4,000 check. The payment promises a soothing aloe to Marias astonishing list of financial woes crushing legal fees, spiraling credit cod debt, student loan payments, and a hankering for a liposuction procedure that could live up to $4,000. Already, she spends long, hot Saturdays babysitting for a hyper five-year-old boy, and on weekdays leads troops of yobo teenagers on tours through the State Capitol. Both jobs barely subsidize rent, groceries, and the weekend recreational pleasures that 21-year-old college students indulge in. Thats why, after being rebuffed once, Maria called over again four months ago. The information packet came in the mail only troika days after Maria dialed the 1-800 number. From the vital statistics she provided over the phone fairish hair, blue eyesshe was an instant hit. The receptionist at the fertility clinic made her theatrical role buttery sweet, over-eager to please.