The commodification of women's health

Egg donation stigma, Apple's ambitious wellness plans, Lululemon takes on dupe-fashion, top workout trends of 2023, and more.

We’ve come a long way in discussing infertility and IVF, but many women still shy away from telling people that they used an egg donor egg to conceive. In my latest feature—”The Last Fertility Taboo” for New York magazine’s The Cut—women who used or are pursuing donor eggs described shame, isolation, and pangs of inadequacy compounded by a clueless public still unfamiliar with the practice. They’re often subject to intrusive questions or insensitive comments like “So, you’re just like the surrogate? and “Perhaps you should have started sooner.”

But it’s not just ignorance or idealized visions of motherhood that account for unwanted feedback and stigmatization: some people take issue with a poorly regulated industry that has gained a reputation as transactional, exclusionary, and even predatory at times. Certain countries outlaw the practice, whereas some prohibit financial compensation and/or anonymity. 

Moms have received responses such as, “Have you thought about what the egg donor ph…