Common Myths about fertility and egg donation
Myth #1- Black women don’t have any problems getting pregnant.
Black college educated women have a lower reproduction rate than similarly educated Caucasian and Latino women. All of the reasons for this are not clearly understood or delineated. Dr. Averil Clark, a Black sociologist at Yale presents the view that this is due to the fact that college educated women are resistant to out-of wedlock childbearing. Black women with any degree of sophistication understand the difficulties faced in raising children under less than ideal situations, i.e., with both parents actively involved, committed and prepared to make the financial commitment necessary to raise strong Black children who can grow up to be strong Black leaders. Clark’s 1990 dissertation, The s*xless Lives of Black College Educated women: When a college education means no man, no marriage and no baby, is an interesting read. Others have also stated that increased stress and difficulties finding a suitable mate are also factors in the lowered reproduction and higher miscarriage rates.
Myth #2- White people will be getting my eggs.
In organ donation this myth has been a perpetual problem in getting African-Americans to donate, the thought that white people would be getting an organ instead of a black person. In egg donation, just the opposite is the case. Euro-American couples are typically looking for college educated, blond, blue-eyed donors. Interestingly enough white couples will also accept Asian donors because they hold the stereotypic view that Asians will be intellectually gifted. The gamete (egg) market is primarily geared to serve the needs of Euro-Americans who are the largest consumers of these services. Because this is a costly procedure to undertake, especially in self pay situations, couples seeking egg donation are usually well off. Euro-American women have no problems donating to well off African-American couples; probably because caucasion women have realized the strategic advantages of building a strong alliance with prominent African-American couples who can open doors for them. Many egg donor agencies are either not interested in developing a quality pool of African–American donors or lack the expertise to adequately search for and screen African-American donors.
African-American women needing donor eggs that we have surveyed indicate that they feel poorly served by egg donor agencies and typically want to do their own search or hire their own staff to do the search and screening for them.
Myth #3- I will use up all of my eggs if I donate them and have problems later when I want to get pregnant.
Women have hundreds of thousands of eggs. Several of these eggs are lost each month, although only one ovulates. Fertility medications only utilize those eggs for the in vitro process that the body would have ordinarily discarded. Neither the process nor the medication will affect your chances of becoming pregnant later. There are no known long-term effects from egg donation. The temporary enlargement of the ovaries from the process can cause a slight bloated feeling that decreases gradually a few days after the procedure. This tends to vary from donor to donor.
Egg donation is a unique opportunity to profoundly change a person’s life. It is life changing for not only the couple but also the young woman who is the donor. It is also an opportunity to re-balance our community. Egg donation creates the possibility to assist the most able members of our community and provides them the opportunity to reproduce and pass on important social and cultural legacies.
Black college educated women have a lower reproduction rate than similarly educated Caucasian and Latino women. All of the reasons for this are not clearly understood or delineated. Dr. Averil Clark, a Black sociologist at Yale presents the view that this is due to the fact that college educated women are resistant to out-of wedlock childbearing. Black women with any degree of sophistication understand the difficulties faced in raising children under less than ideal situations, i.e., with both parents actively involved, committed and prepared to make the financial commitment necessary to raise strong Black children who can grow up to be strong Black leaders. Clark’s 1990 dissertation, The s*xless Lives of Black College Educated women: When a college education means no man, no marriage and no baby, is an interesting read. Others have also stated that increased stress and difficulties finding a suitable mate are also factors in the lowered reproduction and higher miscarriage rates.
Myth #2- White people will be getting my eggs.
In organ donation this myth has been a perpetual problem in getting African-Americans to donate, the thought that white people would be getting an organ instead of a black person. In egg donation, just the opposite is the case. Euro-American couples are typically looking for college educated, blond, blue-eyed donors. Interestingly enough white couples will also accept Asian donors because they hold the stereotypic view that Asians will be intellectually gifted. The gamete (egg) market is primarily geared to serve the needs of Euro-Americans who are the largest consumers of these services. Because this is a costly procedure to undertake, especially in self pay situations, couples seeking egg donation are usually well off. Euro-American women have no problems donating to well off African-American couples; probably because caucasion women have realized the strategic advantages of building a strong alliance with prominent African-American couples who can open doors for them. Many egg donor agencies are either not interested in developing a quality pool of African–American donors or lack the expertise to adequately search for and screen African-American donors.
African-American women needing donor eggs that we have surveyed indicate that they feel poorly served by egg donor agencies and typically want to do their own search or hire their own staff to do the search and screening for them.
Myth #3- I will use up all of my eggs if I donate them and have problems later when I want to get pregnant.
Women have hundreds of thousands of eggs. Several of these eggs are lost each month, although only one ovulates. Fertility medications only utilize those eggs for the in vitro process that the body would have ordinarily discarded. Neither the process nor the medication will affect your chances of becoming pregnant later. There are no known long-term effects from egg donation. The temporary enlargement of the ovaries from the process can cause a slight bloated feeling that decreases gradually a few days after the procedure. This tends to vary from donor to donor.
Egg donation is a unique opportunity to profoundly change a person’s life. It is life changing for not only the couple but also the young woman who is the donor. It is also an opportunity to re-balance our community. Egg donation creates the possibility to assist the most able members of our community and provides them the opportunity to reproduce and pass on important social and cultural legacies.
