It is legal to sell donor eggs to infertile couples. However, Ron Harris, an erotic photographer, proposed taking this process one step further. He established a website, Ronsangels.com, at which nubile supermodels auctioned off their eggs to the highest bidders. The concept outraged other members of the infertility industry.
News of the website was broken by reporter Carey Goldberg of the
New York Times on October 23, 1999. In her words, the website melded "Darwin-based eugenics, Playboy-style sensibilities and eBay-type commerce." A wave of press attention followed.
But suspicions were raised when other reporters noticed that no bids were being logged on the site, and that over half the supposed egg donors were also employed as models at Harris's other business, a pornographic website called Eroticboxoffice.com.
It turned out that no eggs were being sold. The online egg auction was a publicity stunt designed to attract visitors to Harris's real business, which was the pornography site.
Links and References
- "A cry of conception deception/ Critics say web site hawking Models' eggs" Boston Globe (October 26, 1999)
- Carey Goldberg, "ON WEB, MODELS AUCTION THEIR EGGS TO BIDDERS FOR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN," New York Times (October 23, 1999)
- "Yes, We Have no egg auctions," TheStandard.com (October 27, 1999)
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