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Egg-donation agencies and fertility clinics nationwide saw a significant increase in egg donor applicants during the height of the recession last year. But as interest rises, so do concerns about potential health risks involved in egg donation and disparities in payments for eggs. In college newspaper ads, would-be donors from the University of Oregon were offered about $4,000; OSU students were offered $5,000. For Ivy League undergrads, the payment might get as high as $50,000.
Ethical issues abound in the field of egg donation, which is minimally regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Many women in Oregon and beyond seeking to donate eggs may not have full knowledge of what the procedure and screening process entail. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has established guidelines for the maximum compensation amount for a donor ($10,000). However, there are no laws on the books governing how much a donor can be paid for her eggs, or how selective egg recipients can be about traits from hair color to intelligence in their quest to create the ideal child. This has lead to some consternation over so-called "designer babies."
Have you donated eggs? Do you have a child conceived through egg donation? Do half of your genes come from a donated egg? Are all eggs created equal, or should people pay more for "better" genes?
GUESTS:
- Catherine Meyer: Portland resident and egg donor
- Wendie Wilson: President of Gifted Journeys
- Michelle Hess Walton: Portland resident and egg donor
- Dr. John Hesla: Fertility doctor with Oregon Reproductive Medicine
- Marna Gatlin: Founder, Parents Via Egg Donation; mother of child conceived via egg donation
Photo credit: euthman / Creative Commons
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Well this is very interesting indeed. Would love to read a little more of this. Great post. Thanks for the heads-up…This blog was very informative and knowledgeable
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I find it really odd with all of the other way more important things going on in the world today - (The continuing issues in the Middle East, the poor economy in the United States, the incredibly high unemployment rate, and last but not least the devestating oil spill in the gulf of Mexico (5,000 barrels per day (bpd) (210,000 gallons/795,000 litres) that's causing catestrophic damage, just for starters.) That egg donation is being targeted as something worthy to talk about.
My story is very simple -- My husband and I really wanted to have a child together. I'd already undergone many many losses. I was devestated. Adoption which is an incredibly personal choice wasn't something we both wanted to embark upon. When we learned about egg donation we for the first time felt a small shimmer of hope.
Was our child a designer baby? I hardly think so. We mindfully and deliberately brought him into the world. Because I was no longer using my genetics I of course saw this as an opportunity to select an egg donor who was incredibly healthy that didn't have the same kinds of medical issues that my side of the family suffered from. And I don't apologize for that. My only vanity if you can call it that was feeling strongly about wanting someone who was really tall. Why? I am really short and I have always hated being short. I didn't see anything wrong with wanting a tall child who I felt might have better opportunities being tall:)
When couples select the people they want to have children with don't they select the one that they feel they would like to bring children into the world with? Don't they have specific criteria? There is nothing wrong with that.
The whole egg donor community is comprised of men and women who really want to become parents. There's nothing creepy about egg donation -- it's just a different way of creating or building a family.
My hope is that the world can smile upon us and our children and let us create our families and live or lives in peace.
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This is awesome! Keep up the great work. I love your site. You always have cool stuff to read. Great article. Essie from Gas Boilers.
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The ethical concerns surrounding egg donation are possibly overstated and old-fashioned. The very idea of egg donation is already a luxury. It is not a necessity, and it is certainly not a medical imperative. One does not need to have children, and the fix of egg donation, goes above and beyond being a medical treatment---it sounds more like questioning whether you have the right to choose the shape of the nose for your nose job. Why shouldn't you get the best schnozzle your dollars can buy? What do they expect you to pick the Sarah Jessica Parker, when you could choose the Penelope Cruz?
On the other hand, it is potentially worrisome that the 'quality' of the eggs, that often desperate people need to purchase, will be limited by how much money they have. We perhaps need some regulation so there isn't complete chaos and price gouging. But, at the same time, people are constantly limited in our society by their level of wealth, it dictates the type of medical care they might receive, the quality of education their child receives and many other aspects of their life.
It seems like excessive concern over egg donation, is indeed excessive---especially when contrasted to the functioning of our society at large. The risks of complications over 'free market eggs,' does seem rather small. It is unlikely that anyone will ever be exploited, certainly not the donor---the most likely candidate would be the purchaser. Much of our concern might be exaggerated by our fear of 'playing god.' But, our culture 'plays god' with all-kinds of lives.
On a simple level, when you find a mate, your selection process (unless you're totally desperate and without dignity---which is just fine!) is kind of based on the same superficiality with which you might design a baby. Its not exactly as if we are hooking up with 'equal opportunity.' We have little to worry about, if people design babies---there probably won't be too many super-humans produced through it. It is doubtful that a culture that can barely dress itself, is going to be any good at picking the necessary characteristics to breed outstanding people. So, let them have a tinker at it, and we can all have some fun watching the spectacle. There may be some disappointments, but luckily it's all final sale.
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I guess egg donors would wonder about how donor conceived kids feel?
And I think its normal to be curious about one's genetic origins. Egg/sperm donation is a wonderful option.
Cheers,
Laurent - handmade friendship bracelets
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First of all, let's be clear that no one is being "paid for eggs." Donors are compensated for their time, effort, inconvenience, and the medical risk that they undertake.
Regarding "there are no laws on the books governing [...] how selective egg recipients can be about traits from hair color to intelligence in their quest to create the ideal child," I'd hasten to point out that there are also no laws governing how selective I can be about the hair color or intelligence of my spouse, whose genetics I also used to "create the ideal child." I think most people would agree that it's absurd to suggest that there should be.
If I can choose the hair color or the intelligence of my spouse, why shouldn't I have the opportunity to choose the same for my egg donor?
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I think this can be great for a woman who needs it but it does create some complications to be honest. I work for a fast personal loans company and I know a woman who did this and whe was very happy for the woman she helped.
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Let me first say that anyone who choses egg donation is not doing this as a first choice - clearly, I would have rather had a child the way most people do, which involves no one but me and my partner. My genetics would have been passed down to my child, period.
But like many others who suffer from infertility, I was denied that option. After suffering through many rounds of infertility treatments including multiple IVFs, two early miscarriages and one stillbirth early in my third trimester, I made the very difficult decision to turn to donor egg.
Selecting an egg donor is not about my "quest to create the ideal child." It is about selecting someone who has traits that I might want to pass on to my child, period. What I value is intensely personal and is different from what other women value - why should I make a judgement on their choices? I wanted someone who looked somewhat like me (similar hair color, eye color, height), and had similar educational aspirations. I suppose if I really wanted a donor that went to my alma mater, for example, I could have found that person. Or let's say I have a beautiful voice and I've always wanted to pass that on to my child - is it wrong for me to try to find a donor that also sings beautifully? If my entire family's hair is red, is it wrong for me to search for a donor with red hair? These are the choices we make. I don't think that means those genes are 'better,' they are just important to me (as examples). Other women may emphasize different traits. I see no reason why there should be limits on what is important to egg donor recipients or how selective they want to be. Most of us come to realize that being too selective has its trade offs - it becomes more difficult and sometimes more expensive to find a donor.
Think for a moment what you would choose to emphasize if you had to find someone to effectively replace your genes. It isn't that easy, I assure you.
Finally, I'm so tired of journalists trotting out the extreme cases to make a point they think is generalizable to the population. The vast majority of donors receive less than 10,000 in compensation for their time and effort. The $50,000 IVF league egg donor, if she exists, is the outlier, not the norm.
The ability to have a child through donor egg IVF is a wonderful gift, and I will always see it as that.
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I am an acupuncturist practicing in SE Portland and for the last few months I have been treating a patient who had been an egg donor half a dozen times in the past decade. I am treating her for menstrual pain and a digestive disorder associated with her history of egg donation.
Although acupuncture treatments and Chinese herbal therapy are helping her, I would like women out there, who are considering egg donation, to recognize that there are long term health complications that can occur due to receiving hormones and disrupting the natural flow of the menstrual cycle.
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I have both suffered from infertility and been an egg donor at the same time through a "split donor IVF" program. Without the opportunity to donate half of my eggs during my own IVF cycle, I don't know that we would have been able to afford the high costs of IVF to have a child of our own. Being able to have both couples share some of the costs made it more affordable for us as well as our donor couple. The only part of the process that I was disappointed about was that at my particular clinic there was never an option to indicate that I would be happy and willing to have any child that was a result of my donation contact me if they ever chose to do so. I respect the anonymous process and that some couples are most comfortable with that (and may never choose to tell their child), but just being able to voice my willingness to be available at some point in the future to a child who wishes to meet his or her biological mother would have been a nice option.
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As well as saving money, I think you gave a wonderful gift and you must be a woman who with a generous spirit to have made that choice. Do remember though, that you are the genetic mother, not the biological, and there is a difference. I hope that you have peace and know that if a child resulted from your generosity, he or she is certainly most loved and valued.
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10 years ago I donated my eggs in Chicago while studying genetics and genetic disease in college. My family has a history of genetic disease so my original attraction to egg donation was to have a full genetic screening, which I could not afford on my own. Fortunately my tests cleared me of any disease and giving my eggs in exchange for that peace of mind was totally worth it to me.
Originally the compensation was $1500 and jumped to $5000 in the middle of my process.
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My husband and I started trying to get pregnant when I was 29. After struggling with infertility for years and being told that my only option for having a child with at least a partial genetic link was egg donation, the last thing on my mind was "creating an ideal child"-- I just wanted A child. I now have two children through egg donation. While my husband and I certainly reviewed the donors available, we ultimately used the donor that our physician recommended because he believed she would give us the best chance of a successful pregnancy. We did not choose her based on her SAT score, her college or her hobbies. And we certainly paid less than $10,000 for her services.
I can't imagine having any other children than the ones that I had through egg donation. Especially now as my daughter is singing songs and dancing around the living room. And they are 100% my children. They will always know about the way they came into the world. And I will always be grateful for egg donation because it gave me the opportunity to be a mother and my husband the opportunity to be a biological father when it was otherwise impossible.
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Hmm. If a woman conceives after having casual sex with a man, then decides to raise that child, the man is often referred to as a sperm donor. That man may never know that he has a child. If that woman seeks public assistance (welfare) benefits, after the child is born, on behalf of the child, then the state can recover child support from the man. The woman, after establishing paternity, can also file a family court action seeking child support from that man.
Do egg donors face the same financial liability that sperm donors face? Or does the law treat men and women differently?
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kamanu, what you're saying does not apply to anonymous sperm donors who have signed up as such. That is the comparison here.
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It isn't that the law is treating men and women differently, like leira said, you are comparing two very different things.
As an egg donor myself, I know all about the contracts both parties have to sign before the donation takes place. The egg donor's full identity is (usually) anonymous to the recipients and the donor is protected from any future child support or custody issues that may arise. Almost all fertility centers that work with egg donors have a team of lawyers that carefully write contracts to ensure that egg donors will never be legally or monetarily responsible for any child that is born as a result of an egg donation.
If sperm donors work through a recognized fertility clinic that also has lawyers and valid contracts, instead of just "donating" sperm by having sex with someone, their rights should be protected just like egg donors.
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Hi Kamanu -
Sperm donors and egg donors who donate their sperm and oocytes complete paper work that states they are not responsible for any child born from their genetics. The recipient parents also sign paper work stating they are responsible for any and all children born from whatever they are receiving -- sperm or eggs.
It's all about the intent. Recipient parents are intending and mindfully creating life whereas a woman and a man who meet and have casual sex aren't.
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As resources get more scarce and our impact on the environment gets greater, are extraordinary means of conception subverting nature trying to find a ballance? Our global population has exploded over the past few generations and this continued growth is not sustainable.
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I am a total environmentalist (off the grid, compost, raise my own chickens and a serious gardener) and before I was diagnosed with infertility I felt the same as you do. But I feel I will be bringing a most wanted child into the world, at a time when I am most ready to be a good parent (I'm 38). And I feel I have the right to a child, a healthy child, who will be raised to be a good person in the way I define that. Not adopted after being damaged by a system that supports inadequate parents and does not take care of it's orphans. I have done foster care, I am a special ed. teacher, I know my limitations and that I cannot take that home... but adopting a normal healthy infant is much more difficult than you think, and more expensive than egg donation. I believe your concerns should be directed at systems and governments who do not support individuals in making responsible reproductive choices.... it's not the few thousand egg donor recipients who are impacting world population!!! -j817
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It's against the law to sell any part of your body. Eggs, sperm, organs. It is illegal.
If there is a rise in applicants for donation during the recession, is there an increase in people who need the eggs?
I was told that any eggs not used to make children would be used for research, which I was totally fine with. I wonder if that is something that is common and if so is this usually disclosed to the donors.
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jaimearthur, the disposition of any embryos after the recipient's family is complete is spelled out explicitly in the contract between donor and recipient.
Available options for embryos include: transfer to the same recipient(s), donation to (an)other recipient(s), research, and disposal.
Sometimes the choice is left completely to the recipient. Sometimes the donor stipulates a smaller subset (for instance, research or disposal, but not donation to another couple). In any case, it is worked out in advance.
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Why shouldn't people be motivated by the money for donating eggs? It seems preferable to me if they were motivated by the money, or if they could sell their eggs. Because, having children is not a necessity, and the desire to donate eggs is very different from the desire to save a life by donating a kidney. There is no medical imperative with egg donation, it is not an altruistic act. The desire to make a life goes above and beyond any form of medicine. It seems like if people got paid for it, it might weed out some of the folks who get off on having their offspring populate the planet, or it might at least level the playing field, and give women more diverse donor options.
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I think it's a fine idea. They need the eggs for people who want to have children or research and the donator needs money so it works out perfectly. And like Scott says its not like donating a kidney at all. debt relief solutions
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In a world that's got 6+ billion people and counting, why are we still trying to find ways to make more people? What about adoption and taking care of the people on this planet that are already here?
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Should we stop trying to find ways to save lives too? Why send medical care to poor nations when there are already too many people on the planet? So it is fine for us to be here, because we already are, but we get to decide where it should stop?
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That's what I'm saying; let's foccus on caring for the people who are on this planet and keep coming into it. If we don't have the resources or the commitment to adiquatly provide a good quality of life to all the people on the planet, why in the world would you want to keep increasing the amount of people in the world?
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I am a repeat egg donor and am actually really concerned about the world's overpopulation as well. I actually debated not doing egg donations for that reason. However, I realized that asking people to give up their life's dream of giving birth and having a child in order to help the planet would be taking away their basic rights for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Instead, I have decided to focus my efforts on volunteering as a educator with Planned Parenthood to teach about safer sex and birth control options to decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies (a much bigger problem for our planet than the small percentage of infertile people who are trying to have children through ED/IVF).
I am very much pro-adoption, but I believe that it isn't always best for certain people and that it is a very personal choice. Many people who struggle with infertility would like their child to have at least the father's genes, which obviously isn't an option when a child is adopted. Additionally, many women truly want to experience pregnancy and giving birth, and egg donation may be the only way for that to happen for them.I do agree with you on caring for the people who are already on our planet though and think that people who do not deeply want to care for a family and who cannot provide resources should not have children simply because it is the "social norm" to do so at a certain age. I think educating people all over the globe is the answer here, not limiting someone's right to choose an 'untraditional" method of having a chid.
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Adoption is not for everyone. I think that this is a personal choice and I would have to have the government step in like they did in China and limit individuals in how they have their children or how many.
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Please see my comment to ESJ, a few comments above.... I am a hardcore environmentalist and I totally hear your concerns. I felt the same before I was in this situation, but now I am about to be a donor recipient. Adoption is far from an easy solution, and I think your concerns about population are misdirected...... The need to have a child is biologically based and it is profound, the pain we go through with infertility is beyond anything I could have imagined before embarking on this journey. I do a lot to 'save the world', my lifestyle choices, 7 stray cats, and I'm a special ed teacher.... we are all good people in our own way. I don't think it is the responsibility of infertile couples to save the world's children, though believe me if adoption was less beaurocratic and less expensive more of us might make that choice. Don't judge until you've been there -
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Are there any studies being done regarding the high estrogen 'shots' to donate, to see if it increases breast cancer risks?
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I'm so glad someone brought up the issue of sperm donation but I wish there was more discussion about this. Why is there a question of the ethics of egg donation but not about men donatingbsperm. Men are also comensated, asked genetic questions, etc. Their compensation is commensurate with the effort as is that of the women who donate.
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This is a very good question. Sperm donation has a very long history behind it (more than 100 years), and we could learn a lot from it. You're correct that it's not making the news every couple of weeks, and many if the issues are exactly the same.
There are some differences, most notably that egg donation is a much longer and more involved process, which includes more medical risk for the donor. In most cases, it also requires careful coordination and timing with the recipient -- and will continue to require this until the technology for freezing eggs is significantly improved (sperm and fertilized embryos freeze relatively well, but eggs do not). We're on the cusp of this now, but we're not there yet.
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This idea that they are not selling eggs is just careful parsing of the language. It's like saying that a drug dealer is not selling drugs that he "donates", he is just being compensated for his time and efforts.
That said though, I am not against egg "donations", and compensations, however you parse it.
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Tom - I think there is a huge difference between a drug deal and an egg donor #1. #2 I think it probably sounds nicer to say egg donation rather than sell eggs or broker eggs. Compensation I think is warranted as these girls go through a lot to help we mom's out.
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My concern with egg donation is the name of the birth mother, on birth certificate. This appears to be the name of the person actually giving birth? This is not accurate and how is this genetic issue tracked so that brothers and sisters later on don't marry and produce offspring
maryc
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Birth certificates have always been a poor method for tracking genetics. This is not a new issue.
In the case of adoption, birth certificates are generally re-issued with the names of the adoptive parents, and the originals are unavailable.
In the case of sperm donation, the name of the intended father appears on the birth certificate, not the name of the sperm donor.
In the case of, let us call it "indiscretion," the name of the father appearing on the birth certificate might not be the genetic father, though it is very likely the legal one. This varies by state, but in MA, for instance, a woman's husband is by default her child's father, and his name will appear on the birth certificate, regardless of genetic connection. This can be changed if all involved parties agree, but it is a complicated process.
So again, birth certificates have been a poor means for tracking genetics for as long as they've been in existence. Thankfully, genetic testing today is widely available and (relatively) inexpensive, so if a person has concerns, they can be resolved fairly easily.
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Hi Mary -
I am a mother vie egg donation. I carried my child, my name is on the birth certificate because I am the birth mother. The egg donor is not the mother. Egg donors don't do this to become mothers. They do it to help women like myself who are infertile.
What is not accurate to you?
You ask a good question about the sibling issue. I asked about that and that's why there are limits on egg donation. 6 times in one large metropolitan area.
This is why our children need to know how they were created and their origins. For instance my child knows his story, and when he begins to date I think we will be more aware. The other part of it is that years ago we had blood tests for std's and then everyone tests for HIV. I think it's natural for folks to have DNA tests which are simple. I don't think it's going to be a huge issue personally.
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I just completed my first cycle as an egg "donor," for which I was compensated over $6,000. As an unemployed student, I initially signed up because of the money, but when I was selected I became deeply concerned about the potential repercussions of the process. Donors make enormous sacrifices, and risk their own health (even their lives, in very rare cases) by self-injecting incredible amounts of hormones into their bodies, subjecting themselves to highly invasive surgery, and surrendering their autonomy.
In the end, it wasn't the money that kept me on track -- it was the idea of helping a couple who was depending on me to start their family. It would not have been worth it for the money alone.
As for adoption, and other options, I suspect that IFV is the last resort for many couples...Adoption is no easy, or inexpensive process, and it not without ethical consequences (especially when displacing a child from his or her native culture or country).
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Thanks for sticking with it, missrose.
Donors like you make children like mine possible, and we're immensely grateful.
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Missrose! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for egg donors like you. You have no idea how grateful I am, if it weren't for women like yourself I wouldn't have my child. I love him so much I sometimes forget to breathe!:)
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good to read you missrose. I wish there is more people like you.
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I would have to agree that the article is very interesting. It's encouraging to see that more and more people nowadays are willing to consider egg donations as a reasonable option. It reminded me how much I like to eat eggs that were cooked on the griddle and I'm talking about chicken eggs, of course. However, the ethical side of egg donation is also a serious issue, but I am not the one to judge.
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Well, I am totally not surprised to see that fertility clinics and Egg-donation agencies are feeling an increase in the number of people who want to use their services, but it was very interesting to read this article and learn lots of information that was new to me.
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I think that the growth of Egg-donation is very related to the high level of poverty. Most of the people that choose to do this, have only financial reasons. But an Egg-donation is not like a car donation. A lot of health problems are implied. Nowadays, an ethic reason is a very rear one. And I don't think that the clinics are very concern about the ethic matter.
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Thats a very good idea of egg donation, but hope the parents who get the eggs treat the children as theirs. Professional UK Web Design Company.
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We're never too old to learn. This article makes sens eto a lot of people who find themselves in the procarious situation of not being able to have children. Its still a lot of dosh! SEO Wigan
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My husband and I have been struggling with infertility for years. We've looked into adoption and decided the odds of having a healthy baby are better using donor eggs and sperm. The focus on 'designer babies' and donor compensation overlooks the more common issue... that desperate couples turn to donors a last resort. I do not feel donor compensation is unreasonable - giving yourself shots and the medication side effects are no fun, and the donor pool couples have to choose from is increased because there is compensation. There may be couples whose focus is on having a 'perfect' child. After all we with infertility have been through, after how many dreams we have been forced to set aside, I don't blame them for wanting to create a new dream. The majority of us however, just want a baby, a family, we're not looking for a little genius with perfect looks. I am grateful to donors for their role in creating families, and that I live in a day and age where these options are possible.