Egg Farms and Abortion Rights: Will Women Ever Have Control Over Their Bodies?

An article from Human Rights Research writes that Three Thai women were rescued from an egg-trafficking operation in Georgia run by a Chinese human trafficking syndicate. Deceived by an online job advertisement promising surrogacy work and 25,000 thai baht and all expenses paid trip to Georgia to help childless couples, but upon arrival the women’s passports were confiscated and told they were in the country illegally and could face arrest if they tried to leave. They were kept in houses and injected with hormones to stimulate egg production; their harvested eggs were allegedly sold for IVF. NGO estimates that 100 women may still be trapped in similar facilities.

While this may seem to be yet another dystopian event happening far beyond our reach, it serves as a harsh reminder of what’s happening to women all over the world- even in our own country. But what really is going on with women and their reproductive rights, and what can we do to spread awareness?

Firstly, how do trafficking operations affect us? While the UK government recognises human trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery, this doesn’t stop Britain from seeing 8,377 cases in 2023 - a 4.6% increase in 2022. Project Acumen found that from over half of the 30000 women involved in off-street prostitution in England and Wales, 17000 are migrant women. Of these 17000, 2600 are trafficked and 9200 are considered to be vulnerable to trafficking. And out of all forms of trafficking in the UK, women make up well over half of the victims. In the USA - our closest allies - 7 out of 10 victims are women or girls.

Our UK government currently doesn’t provide long-term services for victims; they don’t even have access to support services for as long as 12 months. If we can’t even look after our victims properly, it’s no surprise that the trafficking of women keeps ticking upwards. Trafficking - particularly the influx of egg-trafficking - not only takes away a woman’s right to her body but also to her speech. We need to be working to ensure that victims have a say, in order to make sure that further operations cease to happen.

And if we’re going to talk about reproductive rights, let’s talk about America. The Trump Administration has been very clear about their views on restricting abortions in the US; currently, 41 states have restrictions on abortions, and 12 have banned it completely. In 2023, more than 170,000 people travelled out of state to get an abortion, showing how difficult it has become already to provide safe abortions. In fact, research states that maternal deaths would rise by 24 percent if abortion was banned throughout the United States, which is looking more and more likely given their current government.

How does that affect the UK? Nigel Farage, a member of the Reform party, has teamed up with an extreme Anti-Abortion Group in the US, and has called for restricting abortion rights in the UK. He has also stated that he is “friends” with Elon Musk, who has also been vocal about his opinions on restricting legal abortions. In 2024, the Reform party won five seats in parliament while the Green party won only four; America’s right-wing influence is infiltrating our political system already, and it’s something that we must stay vigilant about as the Reform party - and other extreme right-wing groups - continue to gain popularity in the UK.

It may feel as though feminism in the UK is effectively paramount. But it’s not just our country we need to think about, but the whole world; and currently, things are going badly for countries over the seas. In certain states in America, women don’t have access to contraception or safe abortions. Worldwide, women appear to be getting scammed into programmes which don’t exist to be sold as sex slaves or egg donors. In fact, it is estimated that there are over 4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation alone.

It’s up to us, in a country lucky enough to still think of women as equal to men, to try and repair some of the damage around the world by raising awareness. The minute we accept what is happening abroad, the minute it will infiltrate England- already begun by the Reform party and their views on abortion. We’ve already come this far- equal pay, equal rights; do we want to start reversing now? While egg-trafficking operations may appear rare, it voices a common theme in the modern world: women will be abused for as long as we let it happen. When will we finally put our foot down?