PARTONE:THEFEMALEFERTILITYMARKET ALEXEPSHTEIN

Last weekend, I was on my way to visit a friend in London. As I descended the stairs towards the tube station and waited for my train, my eyes glazed over the advertisements around me. I scanned through various posters for upcoming books and Broadway musicals, until my eyes came to rest on a board asking for donations to charity.

The photo was of a woman and a child, looking up at the camera with the colours muted and debris around the frame. The big writing at the top read: ‘Donate to save a mother!’

Initially, I didn’t think much of it. These kinds of advertisements were pretty common, the images often striking to evoke empathy and sympathy, alike, encouraging you to donate. However, this time my mind wandered elsewhere once I got on the train.

I thought about the ‘mother’ on the long train ride to Notting Hill. At Tower Hill, one of London’s most popular stations, there was a huge double pan, light green poster with blaring red capital letters that read: ‘F for Fertility’. The image layered underneath the writing was of a woman holding a fertility test, with smaller writing below. ‘It’s time to start thinking about the F word… check if you’re fertile today, starting from only £100 a test!’

What was this endless stream of advertising begging me to have children? Was it to test and harness my reproductive capabilities? Earn a living from them?

I thought about the price of inflation, the cost of the living crisis in the city, where it seemed as though everything from housing, to food to travel was getting drastically more expensive by the second. It felt as though just breathing in London sucked money right out your wallet.

So, I looked up one of the advertised agencies for egg donation. Perhaps it would be an empowering experience to give another woman ‘the gift of life’, and earn an easy £800 along the way. I am a student after all and need all the financial help I can get.