Name: The business of fertility – egg donation and surrogacy in Europe | DW Documentary
Uploaded: 2021-10-27T06:52:11.000Z
Duration: 28 min 26 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

One in six couples in Germany find they're unable to have children.

Modal verbs - B1

"It was the worst thing I could have imagined,

the thought that I might never have a child.

Options such as surrogacy or using donor eggs are illegal in Germany.

So, when all else fails, many couples seek help abroad.

"It's a huge taboo. Everything has been criminalized in Germany..."

But elsewhere it's become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

"The people who do these things aren't criminals.

These are just procedures that help people fulfil their dream

But many of the surrogates and egg donors

that's nearly twice what I earn in a month!"

Egg donation and surrogacy are a lucrative business in Europe.

Like so many, she exhausted all the legal options

The hormone treatments caused her to black out and injure herself.

"The thought of not having children was so horrific to me

that no matter what setback I suffered, I'd pick myself up,

reactivate my hope, and try the next thing.

And so gradually we widened the limits that we were prepared to go to,

With a donated egg, she could have probably got pregnant.

but her conscience wouldn't let her do it.

"Everyone who doesn't get pregnant in the “normal” way,

so to speak, suddenly faces ethical questions.

And in the end, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror

Much is possible medically but remains ethically controversial.

Egg donation is legal in many western countries

and a handful of countries allow surrogacy too.

In Germany, only the standard fertility treatments are allowed.

Heribert Kentenich heads up a fertility treatment center,

It's been more than 40 years since the birth of the first “test tube baby”,

110,000 I-V-F cycles are performed in Germany alone, each year.

and passed additional legislation in 2018.

That involves taking the egg of another woman during IVF treatment.

The embryo is then transferred to the prospective mother.

Here another woman is artificially inseminated

and carries the baby to term on behalf of the parents.

The embryo stems from the sperm and egg of the prospective parents,

Two years ago Germany strengthened its egg donation laws.

The legal constraints placed on these procedures

which are based on a law dating back to 1991.

There's a medical side to the case and a psychological and emotional one.

I have to tell her that even with IVF she probably won't get pregnant.

Using a donor egg would be an option for her.

otherwise the state prosecutor will come knocking."

He says every year thousands of women seek help abroad.

For a handful of countries, it's become a lucrative industry:

"The worst cases are the all-inclusive packages, it's like

“we're going on a nice holiday and we'll get pregnant in the process”,

Trade fairs have even sprung up in Germany,

like this one in Cologne last year before the pandemic lockdown.

clinics from abroad can advertise fertility services here

We're not allowed to film during the opening hours, in order to

protect the privacy of members of the public attending the fair.

There are also clinics here advertising surrogacy.

The number one choice, for those that can afford it,

where prices for surrogacy start at 130,000 euros.

Those with a smaller budget can opt for a Ukrainian clinic,

where the “baby package” costs 64,000 euros.

when around a hundred newborns were stranded in Kiev,

because lockdown measures prevented parents from collecting them.

that were published by the clinic to increase pressure on the government,

parents from abroad were able to collect the infants.

The case triggered an international debate on the ethics of surrogacy.

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The business of fertility – egg donation and surrogacy in Europe | DW Documentary

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