Volume 71 Number 4 September 2004	back to contents

Address all correspondence to Bonnie Steinbock, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Philosophy, Humanities 257, SUNY Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222-0001; E-mail:steinbock@albany.edu.

Presented at the Issues in Medical Ethics 2001 Conference on “Medicine, Money, and Morals” at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY on November 2, 2001, and updated as of February 2004.

ABSTRACT
This article examines the ethics of egg donation. It begins by looking at objections to noncommercial gamete donation, and then takes up criticism of commercial egg donation.

After discussing arguments based on concern for offspring, inequality, commodification, exploitation of donors, and threats to the family, I conclude that some payment to donors is ethically acceptable. Donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval. Making the distinction between compensation for burdens and payment for a product has the advantages of limiting payment, not distinguishing between donors on the basis of their traits, and ensuring that donors are paid regardless of the number or quality of eggs retrieved.

KEY WORDS
Egg donation, ethics, commodification, payment, coercion, exploitation, informed consent, altruism, families.