First, what is it that is lost? The burden that must be accepted by the person in question in exchange for what may be gained from the procedure includes the invasion of her body and the care and management of her body by healthcare providers and by the woman herself. Actions like providing sperm impose no such burdens. What is being considered here is not artificial insemination but in vitro fertilization, not simply the provision of sperm but that of eggs or fertilized eggs as well as surrogate motherhood. The dangers, which can include death, that come with the use of ovulation inducing drugs should be emphasized, but they are not all that should be focused on. In most cases the risks of this procedure are not life threatening, but there will always be a certain amount of discomfort involved. And this must not only be endured by the person in question but also managed by others.
But in a world that sees mere discomfort of the body as of little importance, and which evaluates me in terms of what I do and how I "take on" challenges, it is indeed true that it is often more difficult to choose not to do something that it is to choose to do it. Let us accept that in the end it is the person in question who weighs both options and makes a decision. Even so, in combination with what I discuss below, the problem of how to deal with this fact that negative (passive) options are more difficult to choose remains. (A point that has perhaps already been raised is that bodies in our era and society have already come to be seen as bodies that do not feel this kind of discomfort. But if this is really the case then there is no problem. If the technology in question does not make us at all uncomfortable then we should go ahead and use it (see Chapter 7 Sections 4 and 5).