Mother Donates Eggs to Daughter

A mother in Canada has made a controversial donation in an act of motherly love. The mother has decided to freeze a number of her eggs so her he now 7-year-old daughter can have the option to use them in the years to come, reports the BBC.

The daughter of the Melanie Boivin will most likely be unable to bear children of her own when she reaches adulthood due to a rare genetic condition called Turner's syndrome.

However, if the girl chooses to use the eggs preserved for her by her mother the child she would give birth to would technically be her half sibling and grandmother's daughter.

This is where the ethics of the obliviously good intentioned donation comes into play. Standing up for the decision made by Melanie Boivin are the doctors from Montreal's McGill Reproductive Center. They believe that the act of the mother is that of motherly love and that the daughter is under no obligation to use the eggs, they are just an option for her.

When Melanie Boivin, who is a lawyer, found out that her daughter had a very high chance of being infertile she began investigating the law to see if it would be possible for her to donate her eggs to her daughter to use in the future.

In her research Melanie Boivin found Professor Seang Lin Tan from the McGill Reproductive Center. Tan was a specialist in freezing eggs for cancer patients. After speaking with Tan Melanie Boivin discussed the options with her daughter's father and her now partner.

Of the discussions Melanie Boivin said, according to the BBC, "We were concerned about the ethical questions - would I look at the child as my grandchild or as my own? We were also concerned about the financial impact, the physical impact on me and the emotional impact on the family."

Melanie Boivin and her family did not take the decision lightly and took one year to finally decide and donate the eggs. She said of the decision, according to the BBC: "What made us sure was the fact that I was there to help my daughter. If I could do anything in my power to help her I had to do it and because of my age I had to do it now."

Also before the final decision was made Melanie Boive and Professor Tan sought the advice of an independent ethics committee who said the donation was OK "because the mother giving to a daughter is out of love and it is up to the daughter and partner in future years to decide whether to use the eggs or not. And ethical considerations change with time. Who know what the ethics will be in 20 years from now."

Tan has said that is Melanie's daughter decides to use her mother's eggs she will have a high chance of a successful pregnancy and her condition does not damage the womb.

Critics of the donation have expressed concern of the psychological issues that could arise within the family. A representative from Comment on Reproductive Ethics, Josephine Quintavalle said, according to the BBC: "The psychological welfare of the baby itself had to be the principle concern. Such a baby would be a sibling of the birth mother at the same time as the direct genetic offspring of the grandmother donor. In psychiatry we are hearing more and more of children suffering from identity problems, and specifically a condition called 'genealogical bewilderment'. Could it possibly get more bewildering than this?"

Sources

BBC report on Mother donating eggs to daughter
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6264082.stm

Nature.com report on Mother donating eggs story
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070702/full/070702-5.html