Baby products on eBay: market analysis and trends

Baby Ebay

The need to procreate has been on several occasions debated upon and it is best described by the desire to leave a legacy in this world, to have a part of you go on living when we are gone and to have a person to love and love us back unconditionally. But what happens when having a baby the natural way becomes impossible? Several approaches have been identified, such as surrogacy, artificial insemination or invitro fertilization, but the most common ones remains the traditional adoption. However, there are insufficient babies to satisfy the large needs of the couples who wish to adopt. The waiting list is endless and it often takes years for an adoption to finalize.

Due to the large demands, the federal employees in charge of the social aspects of life encounter numerous difficulties in properly selecting the future parents. They often only check the records for drug abuse or involvement in crimes and make a visit to the domicile of the demanders. But these proceedings are extremely likely to allow unfit parents on the waiting list and they could also prevent perfectly fit couples from adopting due to a petty crime committed years ago. Numerous other tests should be conducted, but the government does not currently possess the necessary resources to best approach the adoption issue.

Demand and Supply

Starting with the twentieth century and more accentuated in the twenty first century, the supply of babies has decreased significantly. Wilson (1985) attributed these changes on a wide series of social factors, such as better sexual education, increased numbers of single-parent households, especially mother and child, increased access to contraception methods and even the pro-choice movement, allowing women better access to abortion procedures. On the other hand, the demand continues to increase. In 1985, two million couples were waiting to adopt and the babies were only sufficient for 22,000 couples (Johnson, 1986).

Chart one reveals the decreasing supply for babies and chart two shows the increasing demand:

Chart 1:

Source: Eliot, T.S., Where Have all the Babies Gone?, Future Tool Kit

Chart 2:

Source: Eliot, T.S., Where Have all the Babies Gone?, Future Tool Kit

The enormous disproportion between supply and demand in the adoption marketplace, highly reminiscent of that found for organ transplantation, has led to increased pressure for commercialization and entrepreneurism" (Hirschman, 1991). A possible solution to resolving the current shortages in the system could be that of creating a baby eBay, in the meaning that the babies would be given to the highest bidder. All participants to the auction would be previously selected by the federal authorities in charge of adoptions and only those present on the government's list would be allowed to participate to the auction. The solution seems extremely questionable from the moral stand point, but it does have several benefits that make it a proposition worth considering.

Benefits

The main benefit is that it would inevitably help reduce the bureaucracy in the system and would also reduce the time spent on the waiting list. In this particular sense, couples would not have to wait for years to get a baby and could build their family as soon as they have enough money to become the highest bidder. And the number of couples who desire to adopt increases each year. In U.S. For instance, one out of six couples are infertile (Siebel, 1988). These couples are becoming more desperate with each month that goes by and their desperation is only increased by the failure of the traditional methods in getting a baby. In order to achieve their desired baby, couples often engage in illegal operations, such as the buying of babies on the black market. "The demand is so high that child traffickers unable to find enough willing parties have resorted to snatching youngsters off the streets - and 70,000 disappear each year" (Joseph, 2007). The legalization of a baby eBay would help reduce the crime rates associated with the stealing and further selling of babies.

Then, it would also resolve the problems of the biological parents who do not want to keep the baby. Instead of abandoning it, they could announce the authorities to come pick it up and offer it for an auction. Finally, the taking of the baby by the highest bidder would ensure that the baby gets a good life and, at least from the material stand point, he will have no shortages.

The proclaimers of baby selling argue that the moral implications are not as negative as generally perceived by the society, but that trade with babies exists in numerous markets and in numerous forms and the legalization and embracement of such procedures would only be natural. "These markets are centered around the production and acquisition of babie - babies in the form of component sperm and eggs, babies in the form of fresh or frozen embryos, babies in the form of tissues and organs, and babies as full-term living infants" (Hirschman, 1991). As such, from the technological stand point, the selling of life babies would only be an extension of the modern procedures implemented to help conceive babies.

Then, there is the legal aspect of it. However the current legislature prohibits the trade of babies, the process should be best perceived as a contract between parties and it should be respected and approved by the community, given that both parties involved have stated their unbiased agreement. But regardless of all benefits involved, there remains the question of morality and the sanctity of family and innocent little creatures. "How far are we willing to take our insistence on the dominance of the model of contract in social relationships? In a secular society, which is nevertheless riddled with sentimental religiosity, are there still some areas that we consider sacred and off-limits to the rules of contract?" (Fox, 1993)

Costs

First of all, there is a legal implication. All federal laws and constitutions explicitly prohibit the buying and selling of humans. But with the right arguments and the presentation of the benefits a baby eBay would offer, developed of course in a strictly controlled context, the governments could be pursued to modify the legislature.