In August 2021, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine published its most recent opinion on the financial compensation of oocyte (egg) donors. For those not steeped in the historical controversy surrounding egg donor compensation in the United States, the document likely appears unexceptional. Within historical context, however, the guidelines represent an important change in conceptions of oocyte commodification. First, and most importantly, the most recent guidelines contain no mention of acceptable or recommended compensation levels, nor do they analogize egg donation to sperm donation for purposes of payment comparison. The guidelines thus showcase the final abandonment of a decades-long attempt by the fertility industry to control egg donor compensation. Second, after more than twenty years of promoting ethical worries about oocyte commodification, the guidelines explicitly acknowledge – for the first time – that commodification concerns are rarely raised in the context of sperm donation. Finally, the guidelines emphasize that a failure to treat egg donors as adult women capable of making their own risk-return tradeoffs regarding their bodies and livelihoods would be demeaning and unfair. This chapter uses the development and eventual abandonment of these ASRM pricing guidelines over more than twenty-five years as a lens through which to understand commodification debates in both the sperm and egg markets.
Academic and market interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has grown markedly in recent years. Although less prominent, a...
During times of crisis, governments often consider policies that may promote safety, but that would require overstepping constitutionally protected...
The number of law firm partners who identify as women has more than doubled since 1993. Will these gender parity advances regress as employers curb...
As our nation emerges from the shadow of COVID-19, the general public is coming to grips with a stark reality looming over our public schools...
Privacy is a key issue in AI regulation, especially in a sensitive area such as healthcare. The United States (US) has taken a sectoral approach to...
Detailed descriptions of violent postictal episodes are rare. We provide evidence from an index case and from a systematic review of violent postictal...
In Cantero v. Bank of America, the US Supreme Court declined to decide whether Bank of America Corp. must pay interest on New York mortgage borrowers’...
On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the federal government regarding whether Idaho’s abortion ban conflicts with a...
Our perceptions of what we owe each other turn somewhat on whether we consider “another” to be “an other”—a stranger and not a friend. In this essay...
Anyone who studies trade secret law in depth knows that the field is complex and nuanced. That complexity can be intimidating to novices. Accordingly...
Anyone who studies patent law in depth knows that the field is complex and nuanced. That complexity can be intimidating to novices. Accordingly, the...
There have been many many, many proposals to use Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine. Russia’s invasion violated international law; reparations are...
The recently enacted Respect for Marriage Act is important bipartisan legislation that will protect same-sex marriage if the Supreme Court overrules...
Who has the legal right to challenge decisions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration? And should the moral umbrage of a group of anti-abortion...
President Joe Biden promised during his State of the Union address on March 7, 2024, that he would make the right to get an abortion a federal law.
“If...
After several years of dramatic growth, ESG investing seems to have entered a period of retrenchment. While it is impossible to predict the future...
The role of implicit racial biases in police interactions with people of color has garnered increased public attention and scholarly examination over...
Gradualism should have won out in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, exerting gravitational influence on the majority and dissenters alike. In general...