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This is another salvo in the great red-neck state of AZ's war on cures. Dumb-as-a-stump Bob Stump is my state rep. Ray Lawmakers vote to criminalize selling, buying human eggs By Howard Fischer capitol media services Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.27.2006 advertisement PHOENIX - State representatives voted Monday to make it illegal for a woman to sell her eggs but refused to impose similar restrictions on men selling their sperm. On a voice vote, the House of Representatives said that a woman who sells her eggs could be sent to prison for up to a year and fined up to $150,000. HB 2142 would apply that same penalty to any doctor or organization who made the purchase. Lawmakers also gave preliminary approval to HB 2681 to require that even when women just donate their eggs they be informed of medical risks. But here, too, legislators refused to warn men of the potential legal and ethical risks of donating sperm, including the possibility a child born from the donation could seek them out and demand support. Rep. Bob Stump, R-Peoria, said both measures are necessary to protect the health of women. But several women legislators reacted angrily, saying this is really a question of whether lawmakers are going to treat men and women the same. "I don't understand why a man could go out and sell part of his reproductive body, ... that a man can go and make money, but I as a woman cannot do it," complained Rep. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, about HB 2142 which criminalizes the sale of human eggs. Women can make a fair amount of money: One classified ad in a Phoenix area publication offered up to $24,000. But Stump, R-Peoria, said the disparate treatment is justified. And, he said, it has "nothing to do with gender politics." He said there is a medical risk from the procedure of donating eggs, both from the hormones injected into women to produce multiple mature eggs as well as the harvesting procedure. "I would wager there's not one recorded instance of someone dying from donating or selling sperm," Stump explained during the House floor debate. "In fact, it's more dangerous for a man to cross the street than to donate sperm." Stump conceded under questioning, though, the medical risk remains the same, whether the eggs are donated or sold. And nothing in his legislation makes donation illegal. But Stump said there is one difference: Human eggs can be used not only for in vitro fertilization to help a childless couple conceive - like sperm - but also can be used "for the express purpose of destroying cloned human embryos" for medical research. And Stump in his two years at the Capitol has waged a campaign to create legal impediments to cloning. Aside from these two measures, last year he pushed through a ban on the use of state funds or facilities. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said there is no reason to have one set of laws for men and another for women. "You keep your hands off my eggs and I'll keep my hands off your sperm," she said. Lopez, who raised the issue of "informed consent" for sperm donors, did not argue that there are medical risks from the procedure. But she said there are other potential risks to men, including potential financial risk if a court were to determine that the biological father - if he could be traced - has some financial obligation to the child. Final roll-call votes on both issues will send them to the Senate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn