This legislator is the fertility queen of New York!
Assemblywoman Taylor Darling (D-Hempstead) said she’s given the gift of life by donating her ovary eggs at a fertility clinic five different times to help other couples have kids.
“I donated eggs five times. Five different families chose me,” Darling, 36, told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“I never met the families. It’s life. You’re bringing life into the world,” she said.
Fertility experts say there’s a 60 percent success rate for fertilizing donated eggs, which means Darling has helped conceive a number of kids, bringing joy to couples who could not have children.
Taylor’s bountiful fertility evokes the exploits of a Brooklyn man, Ari Nagle, who donated his sperm to sire 49 children, earning him the nickname “The Sperminator.”
Women get paid about $10,000 to donate their eggs, according to the NYU Langone Fertility Center.
But Darling said she never considered it a side business.
“I didn’t do it to get paid. My eggs are priceless,” she said.
Candidates who donates eggs goes through a similar process as women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF). They receive hormone injections to stimulate their ovaries to produce multiple eggs, instead of the one egg usually produced during a menstrual cycle, according to the NYU Langone clinic.
A doctor uses a special needle to retrieve the eggs from the ovaries during a 10-to-20- minute procedure while the patient is under sedation. A patient is recommended to have someone accompany her to escort her home after the procedure.
Taylor, who is African-American, said she was surprised to learn there was a market at fertility clinics for eggs from black women when she returned to New York from Atlanta, where she attended Spelman College.
“I turned out to be what the doctors call a ‘perfect specimen,’” Darling said.
Darling first revealed that she was an egg donor during private discussions with other lawmakers about legislation that would lift the ban on paid surrogacy contracts in New York.
Darling cited her experience to explain why she supports the bill championed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to legalize gestational surrogacy contracts, in which a woman is paid $20,000 to $40,000 to carry an in-vitro pregnancy and give birth to a child for another woman or couple. Lawmakers blocked the measure last year but the governor is pushing to tuck it into the state budget due Wednesday, April 1.
New York is one of the few states that explicitly bans paid surrogacy.
Many gay and infertile couples now have to travel to other states to enter into a contract with a surrogate.
“You lose an opportunity for a whole bunch of people thinking of extending their families. It’s about providing options,” Taylor said of lifting current ban. “I support women having choices. I want to support a woman’s right to choose.”
“I shared my story with other legislators and understand the need for safety and protection for women carriers in surrogate contracts. There’s been a history of people being taken advantage in this country. Safety and protection first,” Darling said.
But she added, “Right now there are no safeguards for anything.”
Darling said she spoke briefly with Cuomo about her experience and the issue.
Dr. James Grifo, head of the NYU Langone Fertility Center who back legalizing gestational surrogacy in New York, praised Darling for having the courage to tell her story.
“Good for her for speaking out She understands the complexity of this issue. Who understands it better than her?” Grifo said.
He said there’s a “great chance” Darling’s eggs produced children for a number of couples.