Who is Nepal’s egg donation ban actually protecting?

Nepal's Supreme Court banned egg extraction to stop the exploitation of young donors. The same order has left women like Padma—a cancer survivor whose ovaries were destroyed by chemotherapy—without options.

When Padma was 22, she was diagnosed with cancer. What followed were three brutal cycles of chemotherapy—each necessary, each taking something from her. Doctors warned that the radiation would damage her ovaries. But Padma was fighting to stay alive. Freezing her eggs felt like a problem for another time, one she hoped she would have.