'Eggsploitation' focuses on egg donor risk

NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- "Eggsploitation," a documentary released Wednesday, spotlights some of the risks U.S. women may face if they donate their eggs, the producers say.

Jennifer Lahl, founder and national director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, says the documentary profiles three highly-educated young women, who suffered health consequences related to their egg donation.

One woman suffered a stroke, brain damage and loss of her fertility, one woman lost an ovary due to complications related to superovulation and one woman developed severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome -- which affects as many as 10 percent of women who go through in vitro fertilization.

The three women nearly died due to the complications related their egg donation, Lahl says.

In an interview for the film, one woman says: "The industry knew that this would happen sooner or later. They've just been rolling the dice and it fell on me. It was worth the money to them."

Ads in college newspapers recruit women to donate eggs to help a woman who cannot have children and they are often given thousands of dollars in exchange for going through the procedure.

Human egg donation involves risks by using fertility drugs that are injected and the risk of the egg retrieval itself that can result in pain, bleeding and infection, medical experts say.

"Eggsploitation" opens at The Little Theatre in Rochester, N.Y., Aug. 9.