Selling eggs

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sawman

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I am in need of some advice concerning a situation about my adult daughter. She is preparing to sell some of her eggs I believe to a fertility company to be used to help infertile couples with pregnancy. This wil be the second time she has done this. The first time, I told her that I thought that selling her eggs was wrong. It seemed to be wrong morally, but I could not put my finger on the exact reason why it is imoral.
Is this invitro fertilization? I am pretty sure this goes against Church teaching in the area of Life issues. Also we can’t just be running around selling our body parts can we? This seems to be wrong instinctivly to me. I don’t think the Catechism has an “egg selling” paragragh either.

How do I categorize this situation in order to educate myself on the morality involved here? My instinc is to say “Hey you can’t go around selling my future grandkids into slavery or delivering them to death at the hands of some fertility clinc worker!” Even though they’re only eggs, not children yet. I know that These eggs will be fertilized but not all will be used to implant. Some may even be handed over to be experimented with, or worse(if that can be) thrown away. Left to die in a trash can.

Obviously, My daughter does not see things inthis lite. She firstly believes these aggs are her property to dispose of as she pleases. Secondly, she can realise a windfall profit in sale. She was paid $7000.00 for the last batch. She isn’t really that desperate for cash but who couldn’t use a seven thousand dollar boost?

One of my biggest concerns is this; the last time she did this, six months ago, I could not articulate my objections very well and, I dropped the ball in pressing her in this course of action. Now she is about to start the process again, and I realise that this maybe a habitual thing. I want to be prepared to disuade her from this with as much rational argument and moral persuasion as I can muster. I am pretty sure that this activity is as grave a matter as abortion, maybe. I am not certain.

My daughter and I are on very good terms. We can speak to each other fairly frankly, and I know that she trusts my judgement and instincts. She does have a mind of her own though, and I am afraid that she has allowed her morals to be corrupted by liberal ideologies.
Please help with any info you might find usful to me.
Thanks,
Tom
 
There are many things wrong with this scenario. First you are selling a body part in order to get money (our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, not gift shops- though blood and tissue donations can have noble purposes for saving the lives of others, but this too should not be sold at a price; this makes you an object). Second she is assisting in grave acts such as IVF and experimentation on her progeny. It is one thing to place a child up for adoption into a loving home when one cannot care for the child itself. It is another to place a potential child in harms way either through experiments or into a home such as a person who wants to be a single mom (or dad) or a homosexual couple. You bear responsibility for that and God will ask her of this when she stands before His throne at the personal judgement. This is a grave matter. Catholic Charities has sadly had to shut done its adoption agency in many places since state governments and courts have said they cannot deny homosexual couples from adopting. The bishops have stood firm that they could not assist in such unethical situations. Neither should your daughter place the same possibility out there.

My guess is that she plans to continue to ignore your advice and at this point it may be a matter of prayer and other acts of charity that may assist her to change her mind or repent. I will also PM you with information about risks of multiple egg harvests.
 
You might find this article on donating body parts to be helpful:

ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/ZBODPRTS.HTM

In general, there does not appear to be a unilateral condemnation of selling one’s body parts rather than donating them; however, such a practice is, at the very least, discouraged and can certainly veer off into problematic moral grounds very quickly.

All that said, I think your daughter’s situation is different than someone who, for example, is selling a kidney or their blood platelets. Your daughter is selling her eggs to a fertilitiy clinic. I cannot think of any other reason for a fertility clinic to want eggs other than that they intend to fertilize them (thereby creating many irrepeatable human beings with souls) and then to implant those “fertilized eggs” (AKA “babies”) into whomever they opt to do so (or, even worse, harvesting those babies for research purposes). This act has many moral problems beyond whether or not it is okay to sell one’s body parts. It means your daughter could very well have biological children out there!

In moral theology, this is formal or material cooperation with evil (depending on your daughter’s intent). Formal cooperation is assisting another’s wrong-doing while approving it. This is always wrong. Material cooperation is assisting another’s wrong-doing without approving it. This can be okay, but isn’t always. For material cooperation to be acceptable, it must meet four criteria: (1) action must be good or morally neutral; (2) one does not share the evil intent; (3) action cannot directly cause evil effect; and (4) sufficient reason must exist to allow the evil effect. *]

In your daughter’s situation, I believe this fails in several of those areas, but, at the very least, it lacks sufficient reason (which is probably the easiest for you to demonstrate). If you’re daughter was living on the street and in danger of starvation, then she might have sufficient reason. Even if that were the case, though, I’m pretty sure it fails in #3 as well.

*] paraphrased from Beginning Apologetics 5: How to Answer Tough Moral Questions by Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham (San Juan Catholic Seminars, 2004), p.8.
 
The medical risks alone to her own long term health should make her pause.
 
To all,

Thanks for the links and (name removed by moderator)ut. You all have been very helpful. I shall be speaking with my daughter soon.
Peace in Christ,
Tom
 
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