Nobody's Child, Everybody's Children:

All in One Basket

 

While most nations have banned the practice of selling human ova, in the United States egg "donation" remains largely a commercial transaction. While there's no way to tell how many paid egg donors there may be, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine estimates that about 10,000 babies a year are born from donated eggs.

 

All in One Basket follows three women through the process, to explore the physical and emotional experience of donating. Nicole started looking into donation for the money, but gradually became more and more engaged in the idea of being able to help another woman. After going through the application process, however, she was rejected because one of her grandparents had manic depression. That might not have eliminated Nicole, but she also failed to match the "preferred profile" (blond and blue-eyed.)

 

Letitia decided to donate after being a nanny in a family with two children born by egg donation. She found it more arduous than she expected, but says that she has no regrets. However, Jennifer experienced one of the more severe side effects, ovarian hyperstimulation, which could have caused severe damage to her reproductive system.

 

Through their experiences, and through interviews with a clinician, a political artist, and health advocate Judy Norsigian, Executive Director of Our Bodies, Ourselves, the video raises important ethical questions involving the use of growth stimulation hormones, genetic selection for "preferred" physical characteristics, and the role of money in reproductive medicine. Norsigian points out that some of the drugs used in connection with egg donation have not been adequately tested for this use, and that we really do not have sufficient information for patients to give truly informed consent.