Imagine being 17 years old, taken away to a fertility clinic every day without your parents knowing, and having no real idea what is being done to your body.
That is what happened to two teenage girls in Nepal.
They were found through social media ads, approached by agents, and transported to a fertility clinic in Kathmandu. Over ten days, they were given daily hormone injections, had their menstrual cycles monitored, and were ultimately put under anaesthesia so that their eggs could be surgically removed.
Although no specific information is available on how the harvested eggs were to be used, the clear intention was to use them in assisted reproductive services.
Ova donation is often commercialised, with intended parents paying for eggs, and concerns have been widely raised about the heightened risk of exploitation in parts of the developing world.
At no stage were the girls provided with accurate or age-appropriate information regarding the nature, purpose, risks, or potential consequences of the procedures, in violation of the Medical Council Code of Ethics of Nepal, which states that informed consent is a prerequisite for any medical intervention, and, for minors, the consent of a parent or legal guardian is mandatory.
The procedures were carried out without the girls’ parents’ prior knowledge, and the girls’ and their parents’ identities were altered, and their ages were misrepresented in official documentation.
Afterwards, one of the girls' families received the equivalent of $69...
The girls were not okay. They experienced excessive bleeding, loss of appetite, and psychological distress. Their parents filed criminal complaints immediately, but prosecutors declined to act, saying there was no law that explicitly prohibited what had happened.
That answer was not good enough. So, our allies went to the Supreme Court of Nepal.
They are calling on judges to recognise what was done to these girls for what it is: child trafficking, sexual violence, and reproductive exploitation. They are also challenging the government's failure to put in place a proper legal framework to protect other children from suffering the same fate.
The Court has already issued an interim ban on egg extraction procedures involving minors while the case is heard. That is a step forward, but it is not justice yet.
Justice means the people who did this are held accountable. It means Nepal enshrines in law that no child can ever be treated this way again. And it means these two girls, and every girl like them, know that someone fought for them.
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