Paying for Human Eggs, Ivan Illich and Jerry Brown

Posted: July 19, 2013 at 12:07 pm

California's pay-for-eggs bill is
stalled in a technical parliamentary process as opponents continue to
wage their campaign urging Gov. Jerry Brown to veto the proposal,
which swept easily through the legislature.
The latest volley against the
industry-sponsored measure appeared this week as an op-ed in The Sacramento Bee. The legislation would allow women to be paid for eggs for scientific research. The op-ed piece invoked the philosopher Ivan Illich, a
longtime friend of Jerry Brown and much respected by him.
Written by Diane Tober and Nancy
Scheper-Hughes of the Center for Genetics and Society of Berkeley,
the July 16 article said,

“The late historian of science and
technology, Ivan Illich, warned against the processes of medical
industries which 'create new needs and control their satisfaction and
turn human beings and their creativity into objects.'"

The op-ed said,

“Women's research eggs (have) become
the hot new bio-product, increasing the profits of the
multibillion-dollar-per-year infertility industry at the expense of
women's health, safety and possibly, their future fertility. Is this
the 'equity' we want for ourselves, our sisters and our daughters?”

In 2003, Brown wrote a remembrance of
Illich, whom he first met in 1976. Brown said that Illich

“...bore witness to the destructive
power of modern institutions that 'create needs faster than they can
create satisfaction, and in the process of trying to meet the needs
they generate, they consume the earth.'”

The egg compensation bill (AB926 by
Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord) would remove a ban in
California on paying women who provide their eggs for scientific
research. Currently women who provide eggs for fertility purposes can
be paid, sometimes as much as $50,000, depending on the
characteristics of the woman providing the eggs. The bill would not
alter the ban on using research funds from the California stem cell
agency to pay for eggs. However, the agency next week will consider a proposal to allow use of agency funds to purchase stem cell lines
derived from eggs through compensation. (For
more information on
the bill,
see here, here and here.)
The egg bill received final legislative
approval on July 1. The governor has 12 days to act on the measure
once it actually reaches his desk. However, as of this morning, the
legislation remained in what is known as the “engrossing and
enrolling” process. It could be a routine delay but the process can
also be used to manage the flow of legislation to the governor. Brown
is currently on a two-week trip to Germany and Ireland and is not
expected to return until near the first of August.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/emjwUNr50p4/paying-for-human-eggs-ivan-illich-and.html

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