First published at FirstThings.com, republished with permission

Whenever most people hear the term "egg donor," they usually consider this a good thing, as most of us assume that anyone who donates is altruistically motivated and thus engaged in something intrinsically good. And besides, it's for a great cause, so everything is all right, yes?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly, egg donation has less to do with altruism and more to do with the exploitation of women–particularly young women and often poor women who are usually facing large debts or just trying to make ends meet.

The culture of death is like heroin: Once you start to mainline, it is never enough.

Consider the experience of the Netherlands. When euthanasia was quasi-legalized there by court order in 1973, access to mercy killing and assisted suicide were supposed to be limited to the very few. The killing would all be governed by euthanasia guidelines that, the Dutch people were assured, would protect against abuse. These included repeated requests, a lingering desire for death, second medical opinions, and a requirement that euthanasia was the only way to eliminate severe pain or suffering.

Recently, I watched an Oprah show featuring children of sperm donation. Whatever your views are on the ethics of using sperm donation to make children, there was no denying the brokenheartedness of the three young women sitting on Oprah's stage that day. They wondered out loud to the audience: “Does he ever think about me?”, “Do I look like him?”, and “Does he know I'm out here?”