Schema Magazine

Photo courtesy of inquisitr.com

Lately there have been a couple of articles published about how Asian women's eggs are being valued at a higher price. You're probably wondering why that is. Asian women's eggs are the highest in demand for several reasons; their intelligence, looks and even because it is the year of the Dragon (a year that is considered one of the luckiest years in the Chinese zodiac calendar).

Since when did egg donation become such a market? I have always been pro-adoption and for using egg donors. Giving couples, who are unable to reproduce, a chance to raise a child is a wonderful gift. However, I find myself very uneasy with the idea of putting a higher price tag on certain eggs.

It is naive to have ever thought that people donated their eggs more out of the goodness of their hearts than for monetary reasons and that parents adopting cared more about raising a child than the specificity of what their child would look like.

I never have thought about adoption and egg donation as a commodity. I knew that egg donors get compensated, but after reading much about egg donor banks and the process and the prices that go along with the whole procedure, I am starting to question the ethics and the discrimination that comes along with the procedure.

Culture is a major factor in the adoption process, but that does not make it acceptable to hold certain ethnicities to a higher esteem than others. Maybe this is my inner hippie coming out, but all kinds of people are beautiful.

Also, I think it is time to come to terms with the idea that culture is a constantly changing phenomenon; it only exists in our minds. Human beings regardless of where they are from have a lot in common. We just have to start looking past our differences and borders. If we do this, perhaps we can stop confining and defining ourselves with one specific culture or another and limiting ourselves to having babies that are of the same ethnicity.