Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Compensation for donors of human eggs for medical research

Fox News carries the following press release: Pro-Life Feminist Group Sues NYS over Compensation for Women's Eggs .

"Feminists Choosing Life of New York (FCLNY) filed suit Friday in New York State Supreme Court (Albany) to block the use of taxpayer funds to pay women recruited to donate their eggs for embryonic stem cell research."...

"New York State is the first governmental entity anywhere in the U.S. to approve taxpayer money to pay women to undergo an invasive procedure to harvest eggs for embryonic stem cell research.The legal complaint was filed on October 9, 2009 in Feminists Choosing Life of New York v. Empire State Stem Cell Board. In part, the complaint states, "The Payment for Eggs Program provides significant monetary inducements to women to engage in this painful and risky procedure, which in part disproportionately appeals to economically vulnerable women...(it)...fails to satisfactorily provide for informed consent and other safeguards to ensure adequate disclosure to women of the risks of egg harvesting."In 2007, the New York State Legislature enacted a new Title V-A to Article 2 of the Public Health Act, committing $600 million for stem cell research. On June 11, 2009, the Empire State Stem Cell Board (ESSCB), which was given the responsibility for administering the funds, passed a resolution authorizing significant taxpayer monies of up to $10,000 per donation to be used to compensate young women who donate their eggs for research. "...

"The National Institutes of Health guidelines for Embryonic Stem Cell Research recommends against payments to egg donors.The National Academies of Sciences agrees: “No cash or in kind payments should be provided for donating oocytes (eggs) for research purposes." "

HT: Egg Donation & Surrogacy Law Blog via Kim Krawiec at The Faculty Lounge, whose post includes a link to her paper on pricing in the gamete market.

2 comments:

Egg donor said...

Thanks for sharing this article in your blog.It was very nice.

Looking for more..................

feed up in NY said...

Are you guys for real? It sounds like a load of bull to me! Leave it to the right-to-lifers to complicate something as useful as stem cell research. I can't imagine that donating unfertilized eggs would be offensive to someone. It doesn't make sense to me. Maybe they just need something else to complain about! I'm so tired of hearing the whinning from these "lifers". I think right-to -life activists need to start to minding their own damn business for a change. What do they have to do with a topic like this anyway? Aren't they usually busy trying to take away womens' rights'? PLEASE, do humanity a favor and find a new hobby. One that doesn't have anything to do with telling women that you've never meet and don't know anything about,what to do with THEIR bodies!Why do you guys always have to attack women? I'll bet that if one of these "lifers" came down with an incurable,crippling disease like Parkinson's, that they would change their tune real quick. Why shouldn't women be compensated for donating eggs, they are doing it to help other people. You don't ever hear anyone complaining when a man donates sperm. Are they doing that to help scientific research? I'd highly doubt it! Are they experiencing any type of pain while donating sperm? NO,and their getting paid for it!! Let's be realistic folks,would you rather they spent tax payers money for stem cell research or use it to invade some poor,third world country? I'm sure the outcome of stem cell research would be money well spent. Then, they try to say that it's commiting murder. Good one! Would you guys give me a break? I guess i commit murder once a month then,when i flush a perfectly good egg down the toliet! Oh, and I love the insinuation that women aren't intelligent enough to make that kind of decision on their own. I guess that means I'm not smart enough to raise my single-parent family,hold down a job and go to college too. I'd donate eggs in a heartbeat,if it meant i would be helping someone elses life be better, I'm not going to be using them for anything else and your damn right that i'd be expecting compensation for pain,assumed risks, and my time.