Payment for egg donors

There's an interesting piece on the BBC News website about payment for egg donors which is being discussed by the HFEA. It's an issue that always causes controversy, raising fears about creating a market for the sale of body parts.

Donating eggs is a time-consuming and invasive business, a million miles away from donating sperm. There are shortages of altruistic donors, and many women now donate as part of egg-sharing schemes, where they get free or cheap fertility treatment in exchange for some of their eggs. This could be considered to be unethical, as sometimes these women are making the choice to donate eggs because it is the only way for them to ever have a child.

No one would want to see a situation where women are donating eggs purely to make money, but at the same time it is only fair that those who go through the process of egg donation are justly recompensed. We must also remember that eggs are not like other body parts as they are produced regularly.

Can payment ever be right? Will it encourage women who wouldn't ever choose to donate eggs voluntarily to do so for money? Is there an effective way of monitoring the system? What do you think?