Money not a motivator for some egg donors

Money not a motivator for some egg donors
By Nicodia Williams

Human egg donation was a scarce topic not very long ago. However, an increasing demand for eggs and growing compensation for donors are encouraging more women to consider it.

With a full time job as a paralegal by day and a LSAT teacher by night, no credit card debt and a more than O.K. life, 28-year-old Jennifer decided to do something many would consider fairly unorthodox. She donated her eggs to an infertile couple.

“I see egg donation as part of a process of collaborative reproduction— a way that women can help each other to transcend the limitations of biology in order to lead more well-rounded lives,” said Jennifer, who declined to give her last name to protect her identity.

A Texas native, Jennifer represents a handful of what fertility clinics call “known donors” who aren’t in it just for the money. However, as the nation's economy falters, some fertility clinics say interest in donating has increased. But this has proven not to be the case in states like Illinois and New York.

According to Jan Berman, donor and recipient counselor at the Center for Egg Options, a full-service Egg Donation and Surrogacy Center in Illinois, egg donors need to understand that they don’t just walk into a fertility clinic, give their eggs and receive a check.

“It is a significant part-time job. These women go through an entire legal process before the procedure. Most women very often do come back because they feel so bad for these infertile and hopeful mothers,” said Berman.

Jennifer, who first donated her eggs at age 25 said she was very comfortable with her quality of life before she decided to go ahead with the donation.

For her, it was about helping couples who have faced so much disappointment, find joy.

Egg donation is done through an In Vitro Fertilization, IVF procedure where the donor’s ovaries are stimulated with hormone stimulation medications to have the donor produce multiple eggs. Doctors then remove these eggs from the donor’s ovaries by inserting a needle and ultrasound probe through the donor’s genitalia.

“I hadn't planned on donating a second time, but I stepped in after a donor dropped out of a cycle. She had been in it for the money but once the day came where she had to inject herself with medication for the first time, she found that financial motivation wasn't enough to keep her going.”

Numerous news reports have presumed that nearly all egg donors are marginalized, desperate girls who have only a foggy understanding of the implications of their decision to donate eggs.

Dr. Fred Licciardi, a specialist in reproductive medicine at NYU Fertility Center said he has not seen an increase in the number of applications for egg donations. “Money is a motivator, but it's not the only one. Most donors, but not all, have other altruistic reasons for donation.”

Jennifer said she believes that just because most egg donors are young women doesn't mean that they aren't capable of weighing risks and making important decisions. “Some critics go so far as to liken egg donation to prostitution. It is entirely possible that some donors fit this profile, but many do not,” said Jennifer.

In 1996, women in federally monitored programs donated eggs a little over 3,800 times. That number has risen steadily, to more than 10,000 in 2004, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control has compiled data.

What about women who need these donors?

Women are born carrying all the eggs they’ll have for their lifetime, and after puberty, they’ll start to release at least one a month. By the time they hit menopause, they’re ovaries stop producing eggs. For these women, however, the technology of egg donation has been their only hope in fulfilling their dreams of motherhood.

When a woman who has passed her prime years decides she wants to have a baby, chances are she will probably use another woman’s egg to conceive. This exact thing occurred with 40-year-old Emily, whose name has been changed for personal reasons.

The forty-year-old donor recipient, who lives in Chicago, was diagnosed with Stage IV endometriosis; her fallopian tubes are scarred shut; and her ovaries consistently produce cysts that have to be removed.

Unlike adopting a child or using a surrogate, using an egg donor means you get pregnant and bear the child yourself.

“A woman over 40 without all of these other problems doesn’t generally conceive easily. Add all of these other issues, and it’s a true recipe for heartache,” said Emily.

The theory is that at 40, a woman still has a good egg or two in there. However, at this point the majority of them will be “chromosomally compromised”, meaning most of them are not likely to be fertilized, so unless a person has the money and the time and the emotional stamina to withstand cycle after cycle while searching for that “golden egg”, the best bet is to move on to donor eggs.

“Young women want to go to college. Single mothers want to buy their children school clothes; it’s totally understandable. However, I think that it takes a certain type of woman to donate her eggs, even if she’s doing it for the money. I believe that there’s integrity and strength of character in the act. I believe that, despite the pay check, these women really do want to help,” said Emily.

Berman said she does not think all women are motivated by the hefty compensation of up to $10,000 egg donors receive.

“Most of the women I’ve worked with are initially interested because they just want to give. They get a wonderful feeling that they are not only helping infertile women, but they are helping themselves and becoming educated about the whole process,” said Berman.

Emily, who has yet to conceive after three failed attempts with her own eggs, is about to undergo a fresh transfer with her donor. She said the women who donate their eggs with good intentions are called—the blessed known donors—friends, cousins, sisters and the like. They do it for no reason other than they love you and want you to be happy.

“The real truth of the matter is that the couple on the receiving end of the donation doesn’t care why the woman donated, be it for money or purely to help; all they care about is that they donated, and they are forever grateful for that fact,” she said.