If we don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant, we

If we don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant, we can always add egg donation to our list of career possibilities.

If you’re a young Asian woman, donating your eggs to an infertile couple can fetch enough cash to buy a used car or perhaps a semester at college.

The same market forces that drive the price of cotton, copper and other commodities — supply and demand — have allowed Asian women to command about $10,000 to $20,000 for their eggs, also known as gametes or ova.

Clinic operators say the premium paid to Asian women reflects the shortage of willing donors for the growing numbers of infertile Asian couples who want a child who looks like they do. But the competition among these clinics — including ads screaming “ASIAN EGG DONORS NEEDED” in college newspapers — has spotlighted the commercial aspects of what is supposed to be an act of benevolence.

Fertility industry experts say there are several reasons Asian eggs are in demand, including a cultural aversion to adoption. If a woman is infertile, they say, many Asian couples would prefer to use the husband’s sperm with a donor’s egg to conceive a child that carries at least half of the couple’s genetic identity than to adopt a baby from other parents.

hmmmm who would have thought? Continue reading?