The UK is looking to address a shortage of egg donors and curb fertility tourism among British couples by lifting a ban on compensation for eggs and sperm, reports the UK’s Daily Mail.
British clinics are banned from paying for eggs and sperm directly, but egg donors are sometimes compensated up to £250 (about $390) for loss of earnings if anything goes wrong. With no incentive to donate, egg and sperm donors are few and far between in the UK, unlike in the states where donors are paid. Now the government body that regulates fertility treatment is looking at changing its policy.
“We will be looking at a number of issues related to donation policies, one of which will be compensation given to donors. We haven’t decided on a figure,” a spokesperson for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) told the BBC.
There are reports that compensation could be as high as £800 (about $1,200) under the new rules.
Many fertility clinics have long waiting lists, forcing several couples to travel out of the UK to conceive in countries like Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, where doctors routinely implant several embryos at a time to increase the odds of pregnancy. The risky practice also increases the likelihood of multiple births, which carry increased health risks for mother and child.
The head of the HFEA, Lisa Jardine, said while she wants to make the UK system more appealing to donors, she has no intention of moving toward a system like that in the US. “There is no suggestion of adopting the US model where a good-looking girl with a degree can get $30,000 for her eggs,” she told the Daily Mail.
Photo by Ekem via Wikimedia Commons.