halachik problems with donating eggs?

amother

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 4:22 pm

my non-religious sister is at college in america and asked me she should do this? I told her I really dont know and I will ask a rabbi. her eggs would go to jewish families, she has a choice for them to go to orthodox families.
if she does this, does this mean that the baby is biologically hers? like in sperm donation?
im sorry if my questions offend anyone, I really dont know anythng about this.

Tablepoetry

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 4:24 pm

amother wrote:

Yes- the baby will biologically be hers, like a sperm donation.
Halachically - I don't know, I'm sure like many things there are a thousand opinions.

amother

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 6:18 pm

If she is single, then donating to Jewish families is not a problem. She should be commended for being so sensitive and caring. However, she should be aware that egg donation is not as simple as sperm donation. It has some high risks associated with it, like hyper-stimulation, etc. I would also recommend that she speak to a Rav who specialized in IF. ATIME can give her some direction in that area.

amother

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 6:33 pm

There is good money in egg donation... I can see how she would want to do it.

Eggs are unlike sperm in that you only have a certain amount of them and your body will never never make any more. Also, the donation process involves taking drugs and hormones and undergoing medical procedures.... I don't think it's anything that puts someone in danger, but it's not entirely harmless either.

Mama Bear

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 9:29 pm

Halachically - no, youre not allowed to donate eggs - as youre not allowed to put yourself into a sakanah for no real reason, and going under anesthesia is always a sakanah. but as she probably doesnt follow halacha, this could be a boon for someone frum who does need an egg donation... who knows... but I'm telling you theh simple answer, that halachically it's certainly a problem.

Mirabelle

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 9:43 pm

I once saw an advertisement in a Jewish Women's Magazine (maybe Hadassah) offering something like 20k for Ashkenazic eggs!

I understand the appeal, but I would personally never put myself through all the ovarian stimulation drugs (I've had ovarian hyperstimulation sydrome several times) and everything that comes with it jsut for the money.

MommyZ

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 9:45 pm

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Mirabelle

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 9:48 pm

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Ovviously the couple who was looking for those eggs wanted someone from their background.

dveikus

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 10:43 pm

LOL I saw this title and I thought you meant donating chicken eggs, like to Tomchei Shabbos or something, and I was wondering what the shailah could be? So I thought perhaps this was a continuatuation of the discussion where your neighbor returns eggs she borrowed, and one had a blood spot. So I thought that was the issue here, you donated eggs to Tomchei Shabbos and some were bad, and did they count for tzedakah.

embarrassed

As for donating *that* kind of egg, halacha aside I couldn't imagine one of my very own children walking around somewhere not knowing me! Chas veshalom!

To answer the OP, YES they would be biologically hers. If she's thinking of doing this for money, tell her there are better, nicer ways to earn money, without having to sell her eggs. Tell her she will respect herself less if she does this, just as she wouldn't use her body in other ways to get money. So sad!

MommyZ

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 10:46 pm

Mirabelle wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Ovviously the couple who was looking for those eggs wanted someone from their background.

You can have darker skinned Ashkenazim and lighter skinned Sephardim. I don't think that specifying Ashkenazi eggs will guarantee the baby will look like the parents.

Mommastuff

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 10:48 pm

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Ovviously the couple who was looking for those eggs wanted someone from their background.

You can have darker skinned Ashkenazim and lighter skinned Sephardim. I don't think that specifying Ashkenazi eggs will guarantee the baby will look like the parents.

there are also diseases that are more likely in certain backgrounds

MommyZ

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 10:57 pm

Mommastuff wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Ovviously the couple who was looking for those eggs wanted someone from their background.

You can have darker skinned Ashkenazim and lighter skinned Sephardim. I don't think that specifying Ashkenazi eggs will guarantee the baby will look like the parents.

there are also diseases that are more likely in certain backgrounds

Ok I guess that could be a consideration.

lawlady

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 11:35 pm

Unless someone has done IVF, I don't think you can say what the risks are and are not of donating eggs.

I have done IVF, and the truth is that you can very safely extract eggs in most instances, and there is a screening process to help ensure its safety. Women are born with far more eggs than you can even ovulate, so no worry that she will run out of eggs.

I think the add specified Ashkenazic eggs because most Jewish eggs come from Israeli girls who come here to get some money. It acts like a filter to request Ashkenazi. Just my guess.

This is a very cutting edge area of halacha and you cannot simply say it is against halacha. The usual choices for infertile women are either (1) adopt a child that is not jewish, which takes a very long time and is around $40k or more, or (2) get an embryo or egg donor. Jewish eggs and embryos are important because those are the only ones that technically are entitled to Israeli citizenship as a genetic Jew, and so forth. Many Israelis really care about that. Judaism goes according to the mother as we know.

Kohanim have particular issues with adopting because it cannot be a boy in most circles (how would the aliyah turn out, embarassment, etc.)

Some rabbis say that a single woman can donate an egg because the semen from a man coming into contact with it is not adultery so its not an issue. A married woman egg donor may have an issue. Some rabbis posek that because there is no intercourse, there is no issue of adultery. These are very interesting issues that are actively debated now and there are no simple answers.

My personal view is that it is a selfless thing to do for a couple who cannot have their own children. There are advanced books on the subject and you can discuss with a specialized rav if you really are interested in answers.

amother

Sun, Oct 31 2010, 1:05 am

we are ashkenazi and a bunch of sisters. this sister is the prettiest of all of us, and she is very smart. im actually proud that she would consider doing something so selfless. I looked into it and am nervous about the safety of the extraction. but if she is willing to do it, it is such an enourmous chessed.

do orthodox families use egg donation?

amother

Sun, Oct 31 2010, 1:17 am

I'm sure there are orthodox families using egg donation but they aren't going to be advertising it. It's too controversial an issue, with a variety of halachic opinions. Even non-Jewish people tend to keep quiet about it - believe me all those 50 year old celebrities having babies are using egg donation.

All women undergoing IVF have gone through the drug stimulation and egg extraction process and it seems to be fairly safe. I believe they don't use total general anesthesia, maybe a twilight anesthesia.

Mirabelle

Sun, Oct 31 2010, 6:35 am

MommyZ wrote:

Mommastuff wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

MommyZ wrote:

Mirabelle wrote:

I don't understand the appeal of Ashkenazic eggs over any other eggs. Confused

Ovviously the couple who was looking for those eggs wanted someone from their background.

You can have darker skinned Ashkenazim and lighter skinned Sephardim. I don't think that specifying Ashkenazi eggs will guarantee the baby will look like the parents.

there are also diseases that are more likely in certain backgrounds

Ok I guess that could be a consideration.

Hey, I'm just telling you what I saw, I'm not saying it's right. I was in college at the time when I saw this advertisment (waaay before I met my husband, so this must have been about 12 years ago) and I remember thinking to myself "cool, what a great way to make a whole bunch of money!"
Of course now years later I would never consider it.

Yes, an Ashkenazic kid could look like anything, all my 3 kids (100% Ashkenaz) have different coloring including one with blond hair, blue eyes, and a very straight nose.

chavamom

Sun, Oct 31 2010, 2:23 pm

amother wrote:

Let's just say from my job, I *know* there are some Orthodox families using donor eggs.