Egg Donors - To pay or not to pay?

Egg Donation has been in the press a lot today because there is talk about raising the compensation for egg donors.  This, obviously, has sparked a debate about if this is morally a good thing to do and if this would encourage people to donate their eggs for the wrong reasons.

Here is the news report from BBC News (click on the title below)

Egg donor compensation to rise 
The UK's fertility watchdog has agreed to triple the compensation given to women who donate eggs to help infertile couples to have a child.



 
Altrui also gave a response to bbc Radio - basically saying (in a far lovelier and more professional way) that there should be an awareness raising campaign as most people don't realise they can donate.


To be honest I haven't had the time today and sit and think about this in depth so here are my initial thoughts:-
- Personally, it would not have made a difference to my decision to donate.
- There definitely needs to be some compensation for expenses - I know there is no way I could have considered this if my travel expenses were not met.
- Extra money always comes in handy but would someone continue to donate in order to get the money even if they had reservations about it (I'm sure that would not be good for the emotional wellbeing if they did).  But the process is so long and rigerous that I'm sure these ladies would be identified early on.  (I told you I hadn't managed to think this through properly - I'm sure I changed my mind about 3 times there!!)
- Far better than starting by paying people would be to try a big awareness raising campaign which also informs women that the process is not as scary or as inasive as it once was.

For what it's worth there is my thoughts!

Happy days

Fairy Princess Mummy
xx