In recent years the subject of egg donation has been a hotly debated topic due to a variety of issues. Women give up their own reproductive eggs and are compensated a significant amount of money so that others can bear children. Despite the rewards, several women refuse to even consider giving up their eggs, as the controversy of the procedure crosses over many ethical, social, and cultural boundaries.

In spite of the rising costs of gas, rent and tuition in the Bay Area, 64 percent of SF State women who participated in an informal survey said they would not sell their eggs — regardless of the compensation. Fifty random SF State students of different ages and ethnicities were given a three-question survey with different choices for the minimum amount needed to give up their eggs: $2000, $5000, $7000, or more. Seventy-five percent of those who would sell their eggs said that they would have to be paid $7000 or more.

The issue of ethics behind egg donation first made headlines in 1999 when a Web site — ronsangels.com — featured beautiful models selling their eggs to the highest bidder. Today, the Web site is a mix between pornography and a fertility clinic. Ron’s Angels, run by photographer Ron Harris, stresses the importance of beauty by referring to a recent experiment showing that babies preferred looking at symmetrical faces versus asymmetrical ones, symmetry being a widely accepted way to test beauty.

Ron’s Angels isn’t the only option for a woman looking to receive an egg from a beautiful woman. In the wake of Ron’s Angels, several ads appeared in the campus newspapers of Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities looking for tall, blue-eyed blondes with very high SAT scores.
For certain fertility clinics in California compensation can vary depending on physical characteristics.

Among the layered issues surrounding paid egg donation is the distinct difference two women, with similar medical histories but two different physical attributes such as hair, eye color, and ethnicity, are compensated for their reproductive gametes.

Tina Barbagallo, the receptionist at Shelley Smith, a Beverly Hills fertility clinic, originally said first-time donors were always paid $5000. When an [X]press reporter went on to describe herself as a tall and thin blonde Scandinavian, the woman said "the donor would likely qualify as a premier donor, in which case, she would be compensated more." The typical premier donor would be paid a much higher amount only because of her physical characteristics: white, blonde, blue eyed and tall.

At Pacific Fertility Clinic in San Francisco, the situation is quite different. The representative who spoke with [X]press reporters was very firm in saying that Pacific Fertility does not pay more based on physical appearance. They select potential donors based on health, and donors are only compensated more based on whether or not they have donated before. The representative also said an African American woman stands as good a chance as a white woman of being selected as a donor because of the disparity in potential African American donors and hopeful recipients.

It is unclear if the blonde-haired, blue-eyed eggs that can fetch thousands more than their counterparts are in demand because they reflect the appearance of the donors or just what the recipients would like their children to look like.
However, it is clear that the decision many fertility clinics make to pay certain donors more is a business one. The difference in compensation to certain egg donors can be attributed to the economic theories of supply and demand. If more potential egg recipients are seeking donors with certain physical attributes, then the donors fitting those descriptions will recieve higher compensation.

SF State women who said they would not sell their eggs cite various reasons.
Danielle Cohen, 18, did not select an amount that she would be willing to sell her eggs for. Instead, she wrote in "priceless."

“I would never feel comfortable with someone having my eggs,” said Cohen. “I am against it. ... [I would give them] only if someone I knew needed help.”
Egg donation is a much riskier and more in-depth process than the male form of giving up sex cells: sperm donation.

For starters, an egg donor must inject herself daily with hormones for two weeks in order to increase the number of eggs she produces in that month, said a representative at the Pacific Fertility Clinic. There is a risk of this process causing Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, which causes the ovaries to enlarge, resulting in severe pain in the abdomen, according to the University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina.

Once an ultrasound shows that there are enough eggs to continue the procedure, the donor undergoes a short surgery. Recovery time can be up to two weeks, during which time the donor runs a slight risk of developing ovarian cysts and may experience abdominal swelling.
The invasiveness of the procedure and the risk, albeit low, of possible complications have led many to view egg donation by college students in need of money as an act of desperation.

Two years ago, two college students from Bristol University in Great Britain were flown to California, paid more than $10,000 each, and flown home, minus several eggs. When news of this spread around their college campus, student organizers urged the British government to ease the financial burden on students.

Many of the Web sites associated with egg donation clinics talk about the fulfilling experience of egg donation and the gift of life a donor gives. A few of the SF State women surveyed, like 20-year-old Nicki Diamond, said that giving an infertile woman a chance at having a child would be the motivation for donating eggs. However, the number one reason SF State women gave for considering egg donation was money.