Tuesday, January 5, 1999
Donation of a lifetime
With enticing
financial
compensation, female college students
are often
ripe for egg donation
By Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Contributor
We’ve all seen the ads. Wanted: egg donors. Compensation up to
$3,000. They can be found in every edition of the Daily Bruin and
probably other college newspapers.
When Kim, a chiropractic student, was reading her campus
newspaper and came across this kind of ad, she decided to answer
it. Aware of the many couples out there who had problems with
infertility, she wanted to see if she could help.
"I had seen what lengths infertile couples will go to have a
child and I wanted to help," Kim said.
Her experience with donating her eggs was so successful that she
plans on donating again this month.
"Hearing these couples’ stories and what lengths they were going
to have these children inspired me," Kim said. "I can’t see myself
having children, at least not right now, so I saw myself offering
something to them they deserved."
Kim is one of many college students today who are donating their
own eggs in exchange for financial compensation to help infertile
couples realize their dreams of having children.
Developed nearly eight years ago, egg donations have joined
sperm banks, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and
fertility drugs as possible solutions for aspiring parents
experiencing difficulty getting pregnant on their own.
According to Dr. Hal Danzer, a reproductive endocrinologist with
the Los Angeles Fertility Institute, egg donations initially
started when couples would turn to their female relatives for help
with conceiving a child. Eventually, outside donors retained as egg
donors became a better-known and successful procedure.
"It’s a very viable alternative for infertile couples," Danzer
said. "It allows the offspring to share some genetic traits with
their parents and allows women to bond during the pregnancy."
As egg donation becomes more popular with infertile couples, so
does the need for potential donors.
"There are not nearly enough donors for the 40 to 60 couples who
come through our services every month," said Teri Royal, registry
director of Options National Fertility Registry, an organization
that recruits surrogates and egg and sperm donors.
While sperm donation seems to be more common than egg donation,
the process for harvesting eggs is much more involved than for
sperm.
"Egg donations require a semi-surgical procedure that requires
weeks of hormonal injections. And from an emotional aspect, this is
a much more difficult decision for women," Royal said.
Donor eligibility requirements usually call for women between
the ages of 21 and 35 with a clean medical history, free of
inheritable and sexually transmitted diseases. Since donors must
generally be younger women, college students are likely
candidates.
"Students are ideal because they’re young, healthy and the
quality of eggs is good," said Renee Courtney, egg donor
coordinator for Creating Families, Inc., an organization that
matches egg donors with infertile couples. "They also have the time
to work it around their schedule for the hormone injections and
procedure."
A big incentive for college students is the financial
compensation offered for egg donations, which usually ranges
anywhere from $2,500 to $3,500. That money could prove to be very
attractive to students struggling to pay for tuition and other
expenses.
"College students are monetarily motivated," Courtney said. "The
compensation can help pay for their education, and they can also
help somebody out at the same time."
Kim said that while the money did come in handy, it was the
personal satisfaction of helping the anonymous couple that made it
much more worthwhile.
"It felt great," Kim said. "It was a totally selfish feeling, it
made me feel so good. I’d probably do this even if they didn’t
compensate me."
Donors are usually recruited through medical clinics and
fertility organizations such as Creating Families, Inc. and
Options, which provide profiles and pictures of potential donors in
databases on the Internet.
These services also employ intermediaries between the donors and
recipient couples to guide them through the legal and medical
aspects of the procedure.
Possible donors are carefully screened for any physical or
mental problems through the gathering of blood work and family
history information and completion of a psychological profile. They
are also required to speak to a counselor to ensure that the donor
is fully informed of the entire process and its possible
consequences.
Dr. Laurel Kline, a clinical psychologist and director of
Psychological Services for Options, conducts the screenings of egg
donors and surrogates to confirm that these women are prepared to
do this.
"I look for how much they’ve thought about it and the
implications, how and why they made their decision and how they
feel about having a child out there that is genetically related to
them," Kline said. "Our donors must feel comfortable, responsible
and committed to follow this through."
After passing the screening criteria, the donors’ completed
profiles are then passed on for recipient couples to look over.
When a couple expresses interest for a specific donor, an
intermediary then contacts the donor. The donor and recipient
couple both must agree on the match and determine what kind of
relationship they want with each other, anywhere from closed
(anonymous) to semi-open to completely open.
Kim chose to have a semi-open relationship, where she could find
out the first names and backgrounds of the couple, but still ensure
that her identity remain private in order to avoid future
complications.
"I wanted to make sure I was anonymous," Kim said. "Eighteen
years from now I didn’t want someone to come knocking on my door
wanting to meet me."
Once a match is made, the donor and couple sign a standard
contract drawn up by a third-party attorney stipulating that the
donor releases complete rights to the potential offspring to the
recipients. The donor then begins taking fertility injections, in
most cases, a drug called Lupron, to prepare the ovaries for
harvesting.
Once the eggs are ready for retrieval, the donor undergoes a
minor out-patient surgery called a transvaginal ultrasound
aspiration. According to Royal, the procedure takes about 15 to 20
minutes.
"There is no cutting involved," Royal said. "The eggs are
retrieved through a very thin long needle that is inserted in the
back of the vaginal wall and the eggs are then, in essence, sucked
out."
The donor is given a mild anesthesia before the procedure to
ensure that there is no discomfort.
"I felt no pain," Kim said. "It was actually very pleasant
because the anesthesia felt great. And the next day I could go back
to work without any problems."
As to the possibilities of future fertility problems after the
retrieval, Danzer attested that they are minimal.
"The risks are extremely small," Danzer said. "There is a less
than 1 in 1,000 chance of bleeding after retrieval, and the same
chances for a pelvic infection. It is a low-risk procedure."
While the chances of physical consequences after the operation
are small, some women are more concerned with the emotional
ramifications of donating their eggs.
"Of course I was afraid," Kim said. "I discussed it with my
family and my mother was a little upset. I did wonder once in a
while if it was the future president I was giving away. But I knew
I was helping someone, so once I made the decision, I had no
regrets."
Both Courtney and Royal confirm that most of the donors who come
out of their programs leave with very positive feelings.
"The donors usually feel so good after the process," Courtney
said. "It’s usually such an amazing feeling of being able to help
out somebody like that.
"I don’t know of any donors who have expressed any regret,"
Royal said.
While Kim obviously had a very positive experience and speaks
very highly of it to her friends and family, she does believe that
the decision to donate eggs is one that every woman must make on
her own.
"It’s definitely a personal choice," Kim said. "You need to want
to do this."
For the sake of the many infertile couples out there, Courtney
said she hopes that more potential donors do consider this
option.
"It’s very difficult to describe the frustration of infertility
and how hard it is for these couples who want children so much,"
Courtney said. "With the advancements of science and technology, we
can give opportunities to people who really want to be
parents."
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]