Week 1 Post 2-Buying and Selling Reproductive Materials

    The market for reproductive materials is an active one, but there are several ethical objection arguments that have been made about the commodification of  eggs and sperm. Isolated reproductive materials, like sperm and eggs can be used in many ways, when they are separated from a person. An egg can be removed from a uterus, grown in a lab and made into an embryo, and once it is placed back in a uterus it can grown into a human, in a process called in vitro fertilization. Eggs can be frozen and used years down the line, and sperm and egg can combine to form an embryo in a lab, which can also be frozen. Because an egg can be implanted in a uterus, that it did not originally come from, people are able to give, not only sperm, but eggs as well to others to have children. People not only have the chance to donate their reproductive materials, but also to sell them to a clinic. With the introduction of money into the exchange, societal issues and moral questions that are present in many economic markets arise. The language of sperm donation v. egg donation is emblematic of societal views about cis women and men, which sperm donation being seen as a transaction and a job, and egg donation seen as a gift form one woman to another. These viewpoints show the way the economy sees women and men, where men are seen as business oriented, and women are seen as participating in the market to help others, and are looked down on for doing anything for their benefit. In fact, egg donors who express a desire to sell to make money are usually turned down. Besides these patriarchal issues, there are many ethical problems brought up about the selling of these goods, such as the idea that putting a monetary value on a part of a person would lead to the dehumanization of them, where people are seen as a commodity. This is an intrinsic argument, which is making a claim about how the essence of a product will change, regardless of the actual outcome. The more common type of argument for the selling of reproductive materials is consequential, which says that the consequences of the legalization are what matter ethically. One consequential argument is coercion, which argues that people will be forced to sell their eggs because they have no other feasible economic option, and therefore the buyer is not in the moral right to ask for the good. Another ethical argument is exploitation, and in the case of selling eggs, mutually advantageous exploitation, in which a situation is created where a transaction, while it benefits both parties, benefits the buyer much more, and creates an unfair price for the eggs, because the buyers have the power in the market. Those arguments address issues sellers could have but there are several arguments that this market is unethical for sellers as well. The reproductive market creates an unfair distribution, which only allows rich buyers to get a baby, and leave poorer buyers, who are not necessarily less deserving, behind. Another ethical issue, that is already very prevalent but has the potential to get worse, is that the creation of a market of would-be humans reinforces eugenics and racists preferences. There are already these preferences shown when buying sperm or eggs, with people choosing white-coded traits such as blue hair, blond eyes, and being college educated being requirements for many couples. 

    The ethical objections and problems to the reproductive market are important to understand when studying bioethics because these objections, while theories, have real life consequences because the market has been active for a while. Understanding these problems helps to not only inform people of issues they may have been unaware of, but open avenues for fixing these problems. These problems lend themselves to government regulation, which can keep vulnerable populations safer. There is much uncertainty over what types of regulation should be placed on this market, if any, but understanding these ethical dilemmas, helps to guide the regulations and create solutions to these problems. This learning also provides a possible case for prohibition of this practice.