A pair of bills being considered in the General Assembly would put restrictions on the harvesting of women?s eggs for in vitro fertilization or stem cell research.
“This is exploitation,” said Sen. Andrew Harris, R-Baltimore County, the lead sponsor of a bill that would ban egg harvesting for the purpose of stem cell research.
Harris said the invasive nature of the procedure and the risks associated with the drugs used to stimulate egg production before harvesting should be reason enough to prohibit the procedure for research.
The Senate Finance Committee held hearings Wednesday on a number of bills related to stem cell research, such as one that would ban human cloning, including the cloning of embryos used in research aimed at finding cures for chronic diseases.
Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford, would prohibit egg donors from making a profit on their donation.
Donors would still be entitled to have medical expenses covered.
Harris, who introduced the bill in Jacobs? absence, held up examples of ads from area collegenewspapers advertising $6,000 or more for egg donations.
“We don?t think we should be treating women like egg factories,” said Nancy Paltell, who spoke for the Maryland Catholic Conference. “And [the offer of] $50,000 is clouding the ability of 19- or 20-year-old kids to make decisions.”
“This market is geared to low-income college women,” said Cathy McCloud, of Maryland Right to Life. “They have loans to pay off and are usually desperate to make a buck. I wonder if college women can make an informed consent.”
Committee members questioned the demand for harvested eggs to be used for stem cell research.
Opponents argued the industry could be regulated in other ways than shutting off an avenue for a source of potential research material.
“You can do that without upsetting the scientific enterprise,” said assistant professor Andrew Siegel, who teaches bioethics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
In response to the anti-cloning argument that use of embryos for research amounts to the destruction of human life, Siegel argued that embryos are destroyed in the process of in vitro fertilization.
“If it is permissible to create and destroy embryos for reproductive purposes, why is it not equally permissible to create and destroy embryos for research purposes,” he said.
