Promises of high payments draw college students to Colorado egg donor clinics. In order to pay for ever-rising tuition bills, housing, and food, students like Melanie Colman, a 20-year-old junior communications major, are beginning to look toward egg donation.
“I would consider donating for the money,” Colman said. “Why not? Having a degree is vital. It doesn’t matter what [donors] do with the money.”
With the largest percentage of accepted donors in the 20 to 25 age group, according to the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, the service targets college students or recent graduates. According to a 2008 study by Fertility and Sterility, the official journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 45 percent of women first donated eggs in college.
According to the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, located in Denver, donors receive a compensation package of $5,000 for their first egg donation and $5,500 for each sequential donation.
With such a high return, Blia Yang, a 19-year-old freshman open-option major, worries donors only consider the monetary side of the procedure.
“If money is the only reason, donating is not a good idea,” Yang said. “It does not seem morally right.”
While students like Sarah Webb, a 22-year-old senior humanities major, say they disapprove of egg donation for research, giving an infertile woman a chance to have a child makes donation more acceptable.
“I’m a little uneasy taking for granted the gift of life for scientific purposes,” Webb said. “For potential mothers, it’s a great idea if resources are available.”
Other students, such as Yesenia Figueroa, a 21-year-old senior molecular and cellular developmental biology and integrated physiology major, say they disagree with the process.
“You can think about the people who can’t have kids, but there’s always adoption,” Figueroa said. “There are a lot of risks to consider.”
The process takes anywhere from four to six months, according to the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, including an application, blood test, health check, psychological screening and interview before a woman receives an acceptance. Only 25 to 30 percent of applicants at the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine are accepted.
After being chosen, women must take hormones to regulate and enhance egg production, and then undergo a short procedure to remove eggs. Doctors will then fertilize the eggs and allow brief growth, then transfer the embryo to the recipient, according to the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.
While unlikely, an infection from the procedure could cause the donor herself to lose fertility. According to the New York State Department of Health, the chances of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) increase. Rare cases result in severe bleeding and immediate removal of ovaries.
The risk-loaded procedure and direct passing of personal genes discourage students from applying for donation as Webb also said she would not consider donation.
“It would be weird knowing a kid could be out there who is related to me,” Webb said.
Controversy swirls around the idea of choosing children’s traits. As seen with the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine donor database, recipients may choose and pay more for eggs from a woman with certain height, weight, hair, eye color or ethnicity.
Colman disagrees with this new trend.
“I don’t think donors should be paid by traits,” Colman said. “Just because the donor has that trait, it’s not guaranteed the kids will turn out that way.”
Students continue to look at egg donation as a way to help others, despite contention.
“I’d like to give someone else a chance to have a kid,” Yang said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jennifer Retter at Jennifer.retter@colorado.edu.
