Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Egg Donor Price Inflation?

Kaarel Tamm emails:
Every now and then I tune into this radio station in Atlanta to listen to their morning show. I've been doing this for the past 7-8 years, so I also know their commercials quite well. Today I noticed something different in the Atlanta Egg Donor Program commercial. You see, they used to offers potential donors up to $6000 for their contribution, but now the number has grown to $8000.

With unemployment at 8.2%, I find it difficult to believe they can't find egg donors with a $6000 compensation. I'm not sure what the terms are, but with that kind of money they could find 6 women in most European countries, per ad. Or 60 from Asian countries. What's the deal here? Are unemployed women getting so many government benefits that they wouldn't bother to donate for $6000? Or has inflation reached donor-programs already?!

2 comments:

  1. Egg donation isn't exactly a non-invasive process like the one that would be used to donate male haploid cells. Sperm donors need a specimen jar, a magazine (maybe), and some privacy (maybe).

    Egg donors have to have a physical including a pelvic examination, then embark on a potentially maddening follicle-stimulating hormone injection regimen, then have blood tests and ultrasounds to check how things are working, and then go through a potentially painful, invasive surgical harvesting procedure that requires sedation. I don't think the word "bother" quite captures that.

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  2. People who want eggs don't want just anyone's eggs -- they want them from someone who is intelligent and attractive. A woman who fits that description is not likely to be desperate for money, so of course you have to pay them a lot to make it worth their while. And it is a long, complicated, invasive, risky process.

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