Mother donates eggs to infertile daughter:

[Praxius]

Mother donates eggs to infertile daughter

In what is considered a world first, Melanie Boivin has donated her eggs to her daughter who is sterile because of a genetic condition called Turner's syndrome. The Montreal lawyer's eggs are to be frozen until her seven-year-old daughter, Flavie, becomes of age to bear a child through in-vitro fertilization. If she chooses to become pregnant, Flavie will be giving birth to her genetic sister and Boivin will simultaneously become mother and grandmother. Some ethicists are calling the scenario a frightening "scrambling" of generations. For Boivin, however, the donation was an act of love. "If my child had needed a kidney I would have given her one and no one would have questioned it. In this case it's a gamete," Boivin said Tuesday. When Flavie failed to grow normally, doctors discovered she had a genetic disorder that occurs in about one of 2,000 live births. Instead of the usual pair of chromosomes, those with Turner's syndrome have an incomplete X chromosome or lack one altogether and are born without eggs. Sterility is a consequence. Boivin approached the McGill University Health Centre last year after attending a conference in Ottawa on fertility options for Turner's syndrome. Seang Lin Tan, director of the McGill Reproductive Centre at the MUHC, who two years ago spearheaded an egg-freezing program for cancer patients, took Boivin as a patient. The issue of mother to daughter donation is ethically contentious, Tan conceded. "I put it up to the ethics committee for special clinical consideration," Tan said. "The reality is that by the time (the child) thinks of doing this, say in 20 years from now, society's attitude will be different." But ethicist Margaret Somerville said reproductive technologies fail to take into account the consent of the unborn child. "We have to think about what we are doing when we are running around nature," Somerville said. "Giving birth to your own sister completely screws up the normal transition of life." But University of Toronto philosophy professor and moral scholar Wayne Sumner disagreed. When it comes to donor gametes, it is "irrelevant" who donates the eggs, Sumner said. "I don't see it as all that significant - the scrambling of generations .I don't have concerns about whether it's natural or normal. "It's a little odd for (Boivin), who will have both a child and a grandchild simultaneously, but people wrap their heads around these things." Fears reproductive technologies may have harmful consequences for the unborn are legitimate, he said, but there's no evidence on donor eggs, he added. If the arrangement is something the mother wants and the daughter may welcome one day, then society must have good reasons for blocking the transaction, he said. "That would be fear of harm to some assignable person and vague concerns that society is going to hell in a hand basket, I don't think are good enough." Boivin said she discussed the financial, psychological and emotional impact on the family but most of all, the ethical aspect before going ahead. She's had two painful treatments - hormone injections for six weeks followed by egg extraction - and expect to do the third and last harvest in summer. "All I wanted is to give my daughter another option," Boivin said. "She doesn't have to use the eggs. She can give them to someone else. In no way will I influence her. It will be her choice, with her partner." Flavie may choose to give birth to her genetic sister, Boivin said, but it's as the person who raises and educates child, she'll be the real mother.

Interesting... So now you can give birth to your own sister or brother.... uncle?? Wow.... bring out the Banjo.

[DEEJ85]

I don't see it as necessarily bad or gross. Being born from your sister shouldn't affect you developmentally. The only problem I could see is everyone else treating the child differently or like less then a person.
The child won't become emotionally disturbed from this because what you grow up with you accept as normal.

Although If the genetic material is from the donor then it makes the baby her child. So isn't the fact that the receiver gives birth to it irrelevant? Just means that child itself is a child of your husband and your mother.

Could I become my own Grandpa?

[Kamehameha34]

It's this kind of meaningless flustering about the "norm" that prevents society from developing.

[Sarah22]

Imagine having a sister 100 years older than you ...

[Praxius]

From



Who knew Futurama would predict this? (Well sorta...)

[Wraith]

I don't believe there's anything wrong with this. It's there own choice. If they want to do it go ahead. No one's forcing anybody.

[Sarah22]

If you think about it, her husband is making babies with her mom..
I personally wouldn't like that idea!

[improvident]

Anyone ever seen the stupids movie? Im my own Grandpa...

But no.. i see where the mother would be coming from... sorta.. but why not let the child... when of age.. find her own egg donor... i would think it really weird if i had faulty sperm.. and i used my own pop's instead..

[ZNFYRH]

I think it's nice.

Who cares what the genetic connection will be? Unless the family is into in-breeding, it doesn't really matter. The "daughter" will be the mother. That's all that should be relevant.

The prudes need to chill out and see this as a very sweet gesture and something special shared between mother and daughter.

[Rinoa]

Technically if Flavie had her own eggs wouldn't those be from her mom anyways? The ovaries form while still in the mothers womb...It's not that different.

[Praxius]

Quote by: Rinoa Technically if Flavie had her own eggs wouldn't those be from her mom anyways? The ovaries form while still in the mothers womb...It's not that different.

Actually there is a difference in genetics between the daughter's would-be eggs and her mothers.....

The daughter's eggs would have been genetically 50% her mom and 50% her father..... now with just her mom's eggs, they are 100% her mom, which is 50% her grandmother and 50% her Grand father..... whereby her actual father has no genes passed at all......

.... no wait... he'd have some genes passed, since the nutrition and devlopment in his daughter would come directly from the daughter.... which is 50% him..... I guess it all balances out..... in a wierd way.

[Rinoa]

It's not completely the same, but similar enough that it makes sense why someone might choose to do it. The weird thing is that alot of 'surrogate mothers' or egg donors are relatives, or close friends of the 'adoptive mother' or ...egg receiver? I don't understand how this is that much different from that.

Plus, it still genetically ties Flavies daughter into Flavies family, Something I know I would want my daughter to be able to have were I in Flavies position. Though, I would probably try to keep it quiet. Imo, this is kinda a personal matter, not something everyone and their cousin really needs to be in on.

[Praxius]

Fair enough, so I guess there's not a big deal over this.... I just didn't hear about this before until now.... I've heard of all the other ways of getting an egg.... but this one for some reason sounded a bit off.....

*shrugs* oh well.