The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has
indicated that it will reconsider its restrictive caps on payments to egg and sperm
donors, due to donor shortages and the resulting reproductive tourism. Via the BBC:
More and more British couples are going
abroad for infertility treatment since the ban on payments was introduced.
The number of women using donated eggs
and sperm fell by 25% and 30% respectively between 2004 and 2006. . . .
Anonymity for sperm and egg donors was
removed in 2005 – another factor thought to be behind the donor shortage.
The maximum any donor can receive in
expenses is currently £250.
[HFEA head] Professor Jardine told the
BBC a payment comparable to the cost of a cycle of IVF treatment – around
£3,000 – might be more appropriate for women who donate eggs.
I discuss these and other shortcomings of the current U.K. fertility
system in this working paper. HFEA rules requiring donor registration
and limiting egg donor compensation to lost wages and reimbursable expenses have
caused severe gamete shortages, and there are waiting times, the length of
which vary by region, for many patients using NHS funding for fertility
treatments. As a result, many British citizens pay out-of-pocket for treatment
and seek less expensive fertility treatments abroad, rather than dealing with
the wait lists, restrictive regulations, and other impediments to treatment in
the U.K.
Issues surrounding egg and sperm donor payments in the U.S.
have been a frequent topic of discussion here at The Lounge. See, for example:
Sunny
Samaritans or Entrepreneurs? New York Allows Egg Donor Payments For Stem Cell
Research
And for discussions of legal controversy surrounding
posthumous sperm donation and other developments in the human sperm business,
see:
Live
Sperm, Dead Donor . . . No Case
(HT: Jamie Boyle)