Disclosure could make children feel stigmatized, but secrecy is burdensome and deceptive. For bioethicists, egg donation, which combines organ giveaways and piles of cash, raises an untidy heap of questions. Some ethicists believe the notion of paying women for eggs is untenable. Some brokers, too, act as if they were running an egg auction. The Beverly Hills brokerage, for example, has a donor Web site accessible to anyone with confirmed infertility.
Visitors pull up donors by criteria such as religion and home state.
An extra click of the mouse brings up a photo and details reminiscent of a personals ad. Center staffers defend the site by saying it's an educational tool rather than a selection pool of donors. Even recipients, while grateful to donors, may treat them as just another fertility aid. Many couples, offered the chance to meet or talk on the phone to their donor, decline, without realizing that the woman may feel wounded by their refusal. This insensitivity sometimes shows up in classified ads seeking donors.