The American Fertility Association

Contents

ED Message

Up Front: News In Brief

Advocacy Alert

Feature Well

Back Talk

Op Ed

Support Services

Chat Schedule

The American Fertility Association’s Monthly Newsletter

May 23, 2007

We are running last month’s Advocacy Alert again, due to the overwhelming interest generated by the article.

Ovum Donation Legislation And Compensation
By Melissa Brisman, Esq. and Kelly Solloway

Monetary compensation to ovum donors has been a thorny, hotly debated matter since the technique debuted in 1984. The continuous growth in number of infertile women using donated eggs, as well as ovum donation for research purposes has only added fuel to the payment controversy. Despite efforts by many state and federal agencies, the complex moral and ethical issues surrounding donor compensation has thwarted efforts to regulate or legislate guidelines.

To be sure, all states have some form of legislation in place which addresses “baby selling.” The contracts between intended parents and their donors stipulate that their arrangements are nothing of the kind. They deal with such statutes by including explicit language stating that the transfer of eggs to the intended parents is a pure donation, i.e. the donor is not being paid for her eggs. Rather the compensation is meant to pay the donor for her time, effort, pain and suffering leading up to the actual ovum retrieval and the recovery period after the medical procedure, not to mention the medical risk involved. Only Louisiana explicitly bans the sale of ova for reproduction.

What constitutes adequate compensation remains a matter of opinion. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine has concluded that a reasonable fee for an egg donor is no more than $10,000 and should be closer to $5,000. While some egg donor agencies, acting as matchmakers between donors and intended parents, compensate donors at a fixed amount, payment is usually variable. Factors such as ethnicity, education, athleticism, etc. play a strong role in determining the amount. For instance, an Asian donor may be able to procure a greater fee than a Caucasian donor simply because of the scarcity of Asian donors. In addition, a donor with an Ivy League education and high GPA may demand a higher fee than your “average” donor. Some intended parents advertise for donors with specific traits, often offering exorbitant fees in the hope of finding that “perfect” donor who meets all their criteria.

To date, compensation arguments rage with many ethical and moral considerations at their foundation.

Compensation critics contend that compensation promotes the commercialization of ovum donation in which a higher value is placed on certain human characteristics. They also argue that compensation de facto exploits women of lower economic status by providing an incentive to donate their ovum in exchange for needed financial gain despite the medical risks involved. Evidence of this, they claim, is the disproportionate number of donors who are of lower income, from minority groups or are young college women in need of money.

Some supporters contend that in ovum donation, the price depends on what individuals are willing to pay for “significant and meaningful” activities. Since doctors, lawyers and other parties are gaining financially from these arrangements, why not the donor.

Ovum donation for research purposes adds another layer to the compensation quandary with opponents concerned that payment may place a higher importance on a woman’s reproductive tissue rather than her health and well-being.

As the debate unfurls and we contemplate how egg donation ought to be governed and in what fashion, we must consider other critical factors as well. Prominent among them are: how egg donors are recruited; ensuring that donors are fully informed of the risks involved both medically and psychologically; that donors are fully informed about the arrangement with the recipient prior to undergoing any medical procedures or entering into legal contracts.

The complexity of donor compensation defies easy resolution and yet it affects so many of us in the assisted reproduction field--recipients, donors, medical practitioners, psychologists, legislators and regulators.If you’d like to share your thoughts or opinions, please feel free to email the Editor, Anne Adams at Anne.Adams@TheAFA.org.

Melissa B. Brisman, a nationally renowned reproductive attorney based in Park Ridge, New Jersey, is a frequent contributor to Connections.

Kelly Solloway is a paralegal trained in reproductive law and assists Ms. Brisman in helping her clients start or expand their families.

The American Fertility Association, 305 Madison Avenue Suite 449, New York NY 10165.
Support Line: 888-917-3777. Fax: 718-601-7722. www.theafa.org