When the levels of compensation for egg donors were increased, it was generally welcomed as a good move. £750 was seen to be an acceptable rate to repay altruistic donors who faced considerable disruption and discomfort for their kindness. The HFEA was careful to point out that the fixed rate payment had been set at a level which would not attract "those who are merely financially motivated".
Having overheard a conversation between two shop assistants earlier this week, I am not sure this has turned out to be the case. My ears prick up automatically at any mention of fertility treatments, and when I heard one explaining to the other that she would have to go through a full IVF cycle, I assumed she was talking about her own fertility problems. Then, to my surprise, she went on to say that it was quite a lot to go through with the operation to collect the eggs and everything, but that she had concluded it was worth doing because it would be an awful lot of shifts in the shop to get the same amount of cash - and I realised she was talking about becoming an egg donor.
Admittedly, it was only a short conversation, but at no point at all was the thought of a child, of helping someone else or of the future consequences mentioned. Whether it was worth donating eggs or not focused entirely on how many shifts you'd have to work in a shop to get the same amount of money.
It made me feel terribly sad. I know we need more egg donors and I was in favour of the changes to compensation, but I really hope that young women like this are getting the advice and counselling that they need before making decisions about donating eggs. Although £750 probably doesn't seem much to the professionals running the HFEA, it's enough money to make a huge difference to many women in the UK. Of course, we want to compensate people properly, but we do have to be very wary of creating a situation where for young girls in need of cash, donating their eggs is a purely financial decision.
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