Ready for a pretty huge range of costs? Egg donors in the United States are paid anywhere from absolutely zero to as much as $60,000.
How can the range be that big? Well, to start, many European countries and Canada prohibit paying egg donors for their eggs. In the United States, however, no federal regulations limit how much clinics or agencies can pay egg donors, and the industry follows no standard compensation guidelines.
What happened to ASRM’s egg donor payment guidelines?
In fact, the ethics committee for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) was sued in 2011 for recommending a $10,000 limit on the amount an egg donor could be paid. The medical organization was accused by a group of women of violating federal antitrust laws and artificially suppressing the amount donors could get for their eggs. The lawsuit was successful, and the ASRM was forced to remove its price guidelines for how much egg donors should be paid.
But because there are no federal guidelines and even suggesting a limit has been so controversial, potential donors often encounter ads from egg donor agencies offering them a chance to make tens of thousands of dollars by donating their eggs. It’s technically true… but may not be ethical. SEEDS, the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy, calls for agencies to avoid making compensation the primary focus of its ads to donors. They caution against comparing how much a donor can make with them versus other egg donor agencies.
Ethical concerns around high egg donor payments
The ASRM ethics committee has issued an opinion that calls out exorbitant egg donor payment as “an undue enticement that negatively impacts a donor’s ability to make an informed decision about the donation process and the risks involved with donation.” We fundamentally agree with this, and you can read more about our stance here.
High compensation, the ASRM’s ethics committee warns, could lead to donors concealing crucial medical information from intended parents in order to qualify for egg donation. It could also cause donors to not truly thinking through any medical risks or emotional concerns involved in donating simply because they need the money. Ultimately, the decision on donor pay comes down to donors and intended parents.
Is there an alternative to paying egg donors cash?
So if paying egg donors can put them at risk and puts large financial burdens on intended parents, what’s the answer?
Reducing costs for intended parents and helping make sure donors aren’t being put between a rock and a hard place is possible. On the Cofertility platform, all of our egg donors give half of their eggs to intended parents, just like you, and freeze the other half for themselves for free. This way, they’re able to give a life-changing gift, but also take steps for their own reproductive futures. We feel this is significantly more ethical than other donation options out there, and our intended parents love the transparent nature of our platform.
Our advice? Ask questions about how your donor is compensated, her motives for donation, and how she came to find out about egg donation. Egg donation should be positive for everyone involved — and the good news is, with Cofertility, it can be.
