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Minnesota Public Radio presents The Fertility Race Part Ten: The Decision to Donate by Catherine Winter






Part 10 Audio Complete audio of the public radio feature.

Seed for Sale Reporter Stephen Smith talks with an artist who has sold his sperm.

Audio is RealAudio 14.4 kbps.

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Access to other installments in the series.

Photographs by Stephen Smith.





EVERY YEAR, A FERTILITY CLINIC IN NEW JERSEY throws a big party, with hundreds of people filling a hotel ballroom. Small children in fancy outfits are everywhere - watching the puppet show, gaping at the live band, helping their parents eat hors d'oeuvres. The number of kids at the party is a testament to the effectiveness of new, high-tech ways of producing babies. These children started life in laboratories.

A Paid Donation
Many Baby Boomers who waited to have children have found that egg donation may be the only means of conception.

In Short Supply
Several factors keep the demand of donors high. Of 100 possible applicants, perhaps five will become egg donors.

Assessing the Risks
Though becoming more commonplace, egg harvesting is a complicated procedure.

Seeking Ivy League Eggs
As egg donation becomes more widely accepted, will donor selection be done by catalog?

Worth the Risk
Quincy, who has two children of her own, found satisfaction providing healthy eggs to couples unable to conceive.

March 24, 1999

[NPR] height= [MSNBC]

[CPB] [Kaiser Family Foundation]

Major funding for "The Fertility Race" is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with additional support from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.