Blog

Frozen Donor Eggs: An Emerging Market and a Word to the Wise
Posted On October 10th, 2013

Now that new freezing techniques have made frozen eggs more viable, doctors and patients are eager to work them, as they offer some time and cost advantages over fresh. However, because a donor egg cycle is so costly, is it not financially practical in most cases for a clinic to do a donor egg cycle on speculation. The costs for the procedures, drugs, and donor compensation are typically more than the selling price of the resulting eggs. So clinics have been working on some creative solutions, which they may enthusiastically pitch to their patients as well as to prospective donors. I would like to make both parties aware of the full implications and motivations of these strategies, so that they can make informed decisions.

DONOR EGG RECIPIENTS: your doctor may encourage you NOT to fertilize all the eggs retrieved from your donor, to avoid the supposed ethical conundrum of left over frozen embryos. I am dubious of this advice, as in my experience, recipients want as many good quality frozen embryos as possible, and would not want to compromise all that time, money, and effort by not fertilizing all their eggs. Any doctor who advises this does not have that state of your conscience in mind: he or she wants to buy any left over frozen eggs from you to sell to his other patients! Most egg donor recipients we work with would rather have frozen embryos than an extra few hundred dollars, although some may appreciate getting some money back.

 

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Surrogate Offered $10,000 to Abort Baby: CNN
Posted On March 5th, 2013

Here is a case of everything done wrong: as reported by CNN, Crystal Kelley, a financially desperate single mother with two previous miscarriages, refuses to abort a fetus with serious developmental problems, defying the demands of the intended parents.

Crystal Kelley is not a good candidate for gestational carrier, and should never have been accepted by any program or clinic. Although a surrogate is being paid, her financial situation should be stable. She should also be married or have a stable partner for support. Any potential carrier who is categorically against abortion under any circumstances is not accepted into our program; furthermore, the possibility of abortion is discussed in detail at the first meeting between carrier and intended parents. This meeting should not take place casually in a playground, as it was here, but in an office supervised by experienced professionals who navigate both parties through this sensitive endeavor, making sure expectations are set and met.

Did the intended parents know of their carrier’s attitude on abortion before they decided to work with her? It does not appear that they did, and this indicates serious negligence on the part of the professionals (agency, social workers, etc) who handled this case.

It is regrettable that the public perception of surrogacy may be tarnished by this tragic case. The contrast between the right and wrong way to conduct a surrogacy is well illustrated here.

 

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I Donated My Eggs: Jezebel [http://jezebel.com/5954188/i-donated-my-eggs-for-4500]
Posted On October 28th, 2012

A mixed reaction to this overall positive piece on egg donation.

People object to the word “donor,” because there is compensation involved.

However, an egg donor is being paid for her time and effort, not her eggs. The donor would have been paid the same no matter how many eggs were retrieved (compensation is not based on results).

Organ selling is not legal, but the analogy of a donated kidney does not apply to egg donation. You only have two kidneys. A donor has many eggs, and those retrieved for donation would have been released and discarded by her body in a normal cycle (she is not depleting her ovarian reserve). In this aspect, it is more like plasma donation.

 

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Many egg-donor recruiters ignore ethical standards
Posted On August 10th, 2012

According to a survey published in Fertility and Sterility, about a third of about 100 donor recruitment organizations studied do not adhere to the ASRM’s ethical guidelines. These guidelines include the minimum age of 21 for egg donors, the cap on donor compensation of 10K, and a compensation rate not based on donor characteristics or previous donation results.

This last requirement is the least understood by both donors and recipients. Some recipients question our uniform 10k compensation, commenting that 10k is a big sum for an “unproven egg donor.” But they do not realize that the donation process is the same for a first timer as it is for a third timer, and the donor is being paid for her time and effort, not for her eggs. As long as the retrieval occurs, the donor gets paid her full compensation, whether 7 or 37 eggs are retrieved (whether the eggs get fertilized, grow into healthy embryos, and result in a pregnancy and live birth is another story).The donor does not get paid any part of her compensation (in our program) if the retrieval does not occur, so this lessens the financial risk.

As far as setting individual compensation according to SAT scores, prestigious educations, looks, etc.: rating women according to these measures is, to put it plainly, just gross. That is another justification for our uniform compensation policy.

Although the ASRM guidelines may seem arbitrary in some respects and could use updating (especially the 10K cap),

 

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So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic
Posted On May 14th, 2012

Some observations on The New York Times article today: Firstly, IVF is so expensive that even mature adults with established careers need their parents to pay for it. Secondly, most eggs retrieved and frozen are not viable, that is, they will not become healthy embryos that result in live births. A typical result of a cycle with an egg donor in her 20s would be something like 12 retrieved, 10 mature, 7 fertilized, 2 transferred, 2 frozen, and with luck, a positive pregnancy that goes to term. If you retrieve 12 eggs and freeze them, not all will survive the thaw and fertilize. If a woman wants to preserve her fertility, she should do it in her 20s, but the need does not present itself until a woman is in her 30s.

 

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On ‘Do Egg Donors Lie?’ By Jenna Marotta
Posted On December 16th, 2011

Despite its provocative title (“Do Egg Donors Lie?“) this article was fair, but more interesting to me were the comments, which could not have been a clearer demonstration on how to separate the egg donation myth from the egg donation reality. Throughout, ignorant, typically negative comments from women who have only read or heard about egg donation are set straight by women who were egg donors or IVF patients themselves. Just about every woman who identified herself as a former egg donor had a positive experience.

There is apparently much confusion about how egg donors are selected, and what they go through once they are selected.

The egg donor screening process

You do not have to have a perfect family medical history with no illnesses at all in order to be accepted (that itself would arouse suspicion). You do have to be in excellent physical and mental health (free of genetic disease, not a smoker or drug user), and a normal body mass index (we use 27 as the BMI cut off). Egg donor agency directors review hundreds of applications and know how to sift out the promising applications from the not-so-promising. Much depends on individual judgment and the needs of the particular egg donation agency or clinic. A woman may be perfectly healthy and fertile but we may pass her by because we do not think we have a good match for her.

But the questionnaire is just the first step.

 

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International Egg Donation and Surrogacy Program to Launch
Posted On July 20th, 2011

NAFG has launched a specialized International Program offering comprehensive egg donation and surrogacy programs for citizens of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and beyond.

The International Program offers one-stop customized assistance, including:

• access to our exclusive database of highly desirable egg donors
• matching service with our pool of carefully selected gestational carriers (surrogate mothers)
• help with finding and registering at the appropriate IVF clinic
• legal referrals
• travel assistance
• complete support in all other aspects of the complicated egg donation process

These services are often restricted or nonexistent in other countries; furthermore, the United States offers state of the art medical care.

Read about NAFG’s International Program in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German; our press release announcement of this new branch of our egg donation and surrogacy program is also available in these languages.

 

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Sanford Benardo Makes an Appearance on The View
Posted On June 27th, 2011

Sanford M. Benardo, Esq., president of Northeast Assisted Fertility Group, appeared on ABC’s The View this week, in an exciting episode co-hosted by special guest Giuliana Rancic focusing on surrogacy.

Update – A summary of what was discussed:

Where is Surrogacy legal?

  • Commercial surrogacy – paying someone to carry for you – is illegal in most of the world. In the United States, however, surrogacy is state-law controlled. States in which surrogacy is legal include California, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
  • In New York, for example, it is illegal for a state resident to be compensated as a surrogate. A resident of New York who is looking for a carrier, on the other hand, can always engage residents of a state in which surrogacy is legal.

What is the difference between ‘Traditional’ and ‘Gestational’ surrogacy?

  • Traditional surrogacy is used to describe a situation in which the carrier or surrogate is using her own egg.
  • Gestational surrogacy is the term used when the carrier or surrogate has no genetic relationship to the child.

What makes a good surrogate?

  • Ideal carrier candidates are generally middle-class women who have had problem-free pregnancies and have the full support of a husband or partner.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a surrogate be sure to check out our 

 

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ASRM Guidelines on Egg Donor Compensation Challenged in Lawsuit
Posted On May 10th, 2011

We refer throughout our site (see Conceiving With Donor Eggs) and on our blog to the ASRM’s [American Society for Reproductive Medicine] guidelines for egg donor compensation, first established in the year 2000 and restated in 2007.  Among other recommendations, they claim that egg donor compensation over $10,000 is, in their estimation, “inappropriate.”  Any member of the ASRM, that is, any legitimate IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic or egg donation agency in this country, must abide by these guidelines in order to maintain their ASRM membership status. Therefore these guidelines have actually served as mandates; reputable agencies and IVF clinics have followed them, unchanged, for the past eleven years.

In a class action lawsuit filed in April 2011 in California, an egg donor has claimed the ASRM’s compensation cap illegal under the Sherman Act, accusing IVF clinics and agencies of restraint of trade and price fixing. The ASRM sent notice to its members today announcing that it has selected counsel and is beginning work on its defense.

We are eager to see how it is resolved.

 

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