《紐時周報全文精譯》高價捐卵引爭議 High Price of Donor Eggs Is Raising Controversy 王麗娟譯 珊曼莎‧卡洛蘭23歲時（第一次）決定捐卵給一對不育的夫婦，當時她剛從 研究所畢業。卡洛蘭承認，要不是看在她拿來還掉部分學生貸款的那7千塊錢（美 元）的份上，她絕不會做這種事。 Samantha Carolan was 23 and just out of graduate school when she decided to donate eggs to an infertile couple. Ms. Carolan concedes that she would never have done it if not for the money, $7,000 that she used to pay off some student loans. 後來，她又第二次取卵，拿到8,000元，目前正計畫做第三次，然後休息一陣 子。 She has since had a second egg extraction, for which she was paid $8,000, and she is planning a third before taking a break. 卡洛蘭現年24歲，住在新澤西州溫菲德公園市。她說：「第一次很嚇人。它 總是個手術，沒有酬勞我想我不會答應。不過過程不怎麼痛，而且對我來說是種 很棒的經驗。第二次做時，即使錢少一點，或不給酬勞，我也會願意。」 "The first time, it's frightening," said Ms. Carolan, now 24, of Winfield Park, New Jersey. "It is surgery, and I don't think I would have done it without compensation. But I had very limited pain, and it was a great experience for me. I would have done it the second time for less money or even no compensation." 隨著需求增加，近幾年卵子價格暴漲，價格高到引發爭議。 The price of eggs has soared in recent years as demand has increased, and the sizable payments raise controversy. 《生育與不育》期刊本月發表《卵子價格追蹤》調查報告說，捐贈者獲得補 償的全國平均價格為4,217美元。至少有一家中心告訴調查報告的作者，他們付的 是1萬5千美元。許多中心並未回覆作者的詢問。 A survey published this month in the journal Fertility and Sterility, "What Is Happening to the Price of Eggs?" found that the national average compensation for donors was $4,217. At least one center told the authors of the paper that it paid $15,000. Many centers did not respond. 美國准許準父母補償為捐贈卵子付出時間與精力的女性。（許多國家，包括 加拿大、英國，禁止付錢給捐卵者。） Prospective parents in the United States are allowed to compensate women for their expenditure of time and energy. (Many countries, including Canada and Britain, prohibit payments to egg donors.) 「美國生殖醫學會」認為，補償金若高於5千美元，「應有正當理由」，超過 1萬美元，就「踰越了適當範圍」。 The American Society for Reproductive Medicine considers compensation of $5,000 or more to "require justification" and sums exceeding $10,000 "beyond what is appropriate." 紐約州蓋瑞森市的研究團體「海斯汀中心」（按；為一生物倫理學智庫）的 法律與生物倫理專家約瑟芬‧強斯頓說：「真正的問題是，會不會利令智昏。」 她不反對給錢，但擔心價格過高。 "The real issue is whether the money can cloud someone's judgment," said Josephine Johnston, an associate for law and bioethics at the Hastings Center, a research group in Garrison, New York. She does not oppose compensation, but she does worry about high prices. 強斯頓說：「我們聽說有人付給捐卵者一大筆錢，5萬或6萬美元，但是這個 人同意捐贈時，對醫療過程真的了解多少，在別人說明過程、解釋風險時，又到 底真的聽進或思考了多少？」 "We hear about egg donors being paid enormous amounts of money, $50,000 or $60,000," Ms. Johnston said. "How much is that person actually giving informed consent about the medical procedure and really listening and thinking as it's being described and its risks are explained? " 卵子捐贈的風險還沒有做過徹底的研究。雖然取卵安全無虞是多數生殖內分 泌學家的共識，英國卻已出現五個死亡案例。因為問題太多，因此幹細胞研究人 員承諾，絕不付錢購買卵子。 The risks have not been thoroughly studied. Although the consensus among most reproductive endocrinologists is that extraction is safe, five deaths have been reported in Britain. There are enough questions that stem cell researchers have promised not to pay for eggs. 取卵的過程可能相當痛苦。女性必須吃藥停止月經，接著每天注射荷爾蒙刺 激卵巢，製造一批成熟的卵子。這些藥物可能讓女性變臃腫、體重上升、易怒， 還可能罹患一種名為卵巢過度刺激症候群的罕見毛病，引發危及性命的併發症、 血栓、腎衰竭。卵子是以一根針穿過陰道伸入卵巢抽取。它對身心兩方面構成的 長期風險，更加難以評估。 The process of egg extraction can be painful. A woman has to take medications to stop her menstrual cycle and then daily hormone injections to stimulate her ovaries to produce a crop of mature eggs. The drugs may cause bloating, weight gain and irritability, and there is a risk of a rare condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome that can cause life-threatening complications, blood clots and kidney failure. The eggs are extracted through a needle inserted through the vagina into the ovary. It is the long-term risks, both physical and psychological, that are harder to assess. 有人懷疑取卵可能危害捐贈者的生育力，批評者憂心，年輕女性捐卵，日後 卻發現自己無法生育時，可能蒙受的心理創傷。 Questions have been raised about whether extraction may jeopardize the donor's fertility, and critics worry about the potential psychological harm to a donor of eggs as a young woman who later finds that she is unable to have children. 卡洛蘭說，她如此決定，家人為她的健康著想而反對，友人也無法諒解。她 說：「聊起這個話題時，我告訴友人我做過這件事，他們的反應是『為什麼？老 天，你不害怕自己在外面有個小孩？』他們嚇昏了。」 Ms. Carolan said her family opposed her decision because they worried about her health, and her friends did not understand. "If the topic comes up, and I tell friends I've done it, they're like: 'Why? Oh my God, aren't you afraid you have a baby out there?' They're so stunned and shocked," she said. 接著她告訴他們她拿到多少錢。她說：「後來他們的反應是『好，現在我懂 了。很酷。』大家都知道那是一筆不小的錢。」 Then she tells them how much she was paid. "And then they go, 'O.K., I understand now, that's cool,'" she said. "People understand the money." By RONI CARYN RABIN 【2007-06-01/聯合報/C3版/教育】 -- 大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私語。 嘈嘈切切錯雜彈，大珠小珠落玉盤。 間關鶯語花底滑，幽咽泉流水下灘。 水泉冷澀弦凝絕，凝絕不通聲漸歇。 別有幽愁暗恨生，此時無聲勝有聲。 銀瓶乍破水漿迸，鐵騎突出刀槍鳴。 曲終收撥當心畫，四弦一聲如裂帛。 東船西舫悄無言，唯見江心秋月白。 --

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