Should egg and sperm donors be compensated for the time and inconvenience involved with the process of donation? If so, what is a fair amount? Is the current system working well or does it need to be changed? Recommendations are to be made this week after a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) was presented on October 19.
Bourn Hall, the world’s first IVF clinic, was one of the first fertility clinics to establish its own sperm bank. It has run an altruistic sperm and egg donation programme for many years and also offers free treatment for couples that share eggs or sperm, but even so more donors are always required to meet the demand.
Bourn Hall Medical Director, Thomas Mathews, said: “Over the last few years we have seen greater awareness of the need for donation and in particular willingness of couples going through treatment to help others in the same situation.
“Lifting of anonymity means that we now have a generation of ‘babies’ that have been brought up knowing that they have been conceived as a result of donated gametes and this is driving a change in attitudes. Donors consider more carefully the implications but this has also meant greater openness about the whole subject.
“While it is vital that donation is voluntary and willingly entered into, we also need to understand that donation entails a commitment of time and inconvenience and this should be acknowledged.”
At present the law prohibits the payment of donors but allows them to be compensated for expenses and for the inconvenience of donation, this includes travel costs and loss of earnings for each course of sperm or egg donation.
Laura Witjens, chairwoman of National Gamete Donation Trust (NGDT), said: “No amount of money will ever repay what an egg donor does to help childless couples. This priceless gift changes lives and donors truly do it to help others. The NGDT believes that altruistic motives should remain at the core of donation and that payment, although intended as an expression of gratitude, should never facilitate coercion.
“We therefore welcome the outcome of the HFEA Donation Consultation where a balance is being struck between recognising the wonderful gift of donation yet not affecting the purity of donors’ motives. It is in line with our recommendations to the HFEA and we are grateful they've been taken to heart.
“An on-going national coordinated approach is now needed to increase awareness and help more patients.”
Bourn Hall Clinic patient Paula Moyes needed donated eggs after a premature menopause. She waited two years before she was able to participate in an egg share programme.
“The donor produced twenty eggs, ten for her and ten for me, and I got pregnant first time. I was over the moon, I had not expected it to work on the first attempt. You are not told about the other person but I so hoped that she was pregnant too.”
The twins, Aidan and Ethan, were born in March 2011 and Paula and her husband Gary still can’t believe the babies are here.
“I call them my little miracles. I think of the donor all the time and just couldn’t thank her enough. We owe her so much for the joy she has given us.
“To anyone considering donating I would say, ‘be very sure that it is what you want to do’, it is not an easy decision. To give someone who craves a baby with her whole being the chance of being a mother is probably one of the most generous things you could ever do.”
“I can still remember the pain when I was told I had no eggs and now I have these beautiful babies; I can’t begin to describe the joy.”
