It is illegal in the UK for egg donors to receive payment other than compensation for expenses but the shortage of donors has prompted many to call for payment to encourage more women to come forward. The issue was debated this month by the Progress Educational Trust in partnership with the Royal Society of Medicine, supported by the National Gamete Donation Trust and the British Fertility Society (BFS).
The debate heard that participation in egg sharing schemes - where eggs are exchanged in return for IVF treatment - dropped when NHS-funded IVF became available, supporting the case that women were more likely to donate eggs if there was something in it for them.
The main debate centres around the difference between compensation, payment and exploitation and the dangers of encouraging women to come forward as egg donors purely for financial gain, even if doing so is not in their best interests.
Egg donors should be well-informed and well cared for. This is why Altrui exists, to seek women who want to donate not for any financial gain but because they want to help someone else become a mother. We inform them, answer their questions and take care of them through every step of the process. We never pressurise them and make sure they are donating because they want to make a difference.
Altruistic egg donors may be rare, but they do exist. There are women in the UK who donate their time and eggs without even claiming the compensation to which they are entitled. Some would be offended to be offered payment. Perhaps our energies and resources should be spent recruiting women to egg donation programs who see making a difference to others lives as payment enough.
Read the full article in BioNews.
