IHEU- Appignani Humanist Center for Bioethics

Ana Lita holds a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy from Bowling Green State University, U.S. and an M.A. in Sociology through Lancaster University, UK. The author of numerous conference presentations, scholarly and popular publications in the fields of education, ethics and bioethics, she is the recipient of a Soros Foundation Fellowship in Prague and a National Association Fellowship for International Scholars, the US. She was a visiting researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy in 1995, and as a junior researcher at the Institute for Educational Sciences in Bucharest, Romania from 1991-1995, where she was responsible for a joint research project on Adult Education with UNESCO-Institute for Education in Hamburg. She held a tenure –track position as an assistant professor of Philosophy at Lincoln University, MO prior to being appointed Director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union- Appignani Center for Bioethics in NYC, September 2005. She speaks fluently Romanian, French, Italian and English.

Some notable and controversial developments in biotechnology affecting women’s reproductive rights include the emergence of “egg markets,” which have the potential to *help or harm* women and their current socio-economic status in modern society. Here I will review the basics of egg donation, as well as three potential objections (with rejoinders, where possible) to the growth of this technology, namely: (1) the potential for economic coercion, (2) the potential for commodification, and (3) the problem of unquantified risk.