A “monstrous commercialization” and an “exploitation of the female body that we cannot accept”: that’s the judgment of Gertraude Steindl, general secretary of the Austrian organization “Aktion Leben”, pronounced on 24 January in response to the planned sale of egg cells between Great Britain and Romania. “Projects like this demonstrate how problematic it is to wish to use the physical services of third persons to realize personal desires. I hope that all women’s organizations will protest vigorously”, she added. The commercial agreement provides for the utilization of egg cells not only for artificial insemination but also for the production of embryos through cloning. “Let us have no illusions”, declared Steindl: “if we don’t impose clear limits on the development of biomedicine, the human being will speedily become merely an object subordinate to the interests of others. We already see this happening in the initial phase of life: embryos are being used as raw material. And now, women are to be degraded to the role of suppliers of valuable bodily substances”, she commented. Steindl also warned against the introduction of so-called pre-implant diagnosis (PID) in Austria: “Those who say yes to PID are also in favour of the donation of egg cells. In future, will we reach the point of paying women for their services or subjecting them to moral pressure to force them to place their egg cells at the disposal of third persons?”. The secretary of Aktion Leben lastly remarked that this accord with Great Britain is in contravention of a Directive of the European Parliament of 2003 and therefore appealed to the politicians concerned to take a position on the matter.
