Pay-For-Eggs Legislation Draws More Media Attention

By Dr. Matthew Watson

California legislation to allow women
to be paid for their eggs for scientific research generated several news articles this week as the measure neared final legislative
approval.

The coverage included both pro and con
but did not amount to major attention from the mainstream media. And,
with one exception, the articles failed to report that the
legislation did not apply to research funded by the $3 billion
California stem cell agency, which bans compensation for egg
providers.

The proposal (AB926) is now on the
state Senate floor with a vote possibly coming as early as next
Thursday. A spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive
Medicine in Birmingham, Ala., an industry group sponsoring the bill,
said unequivocally that the Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the
measure. (See the Senate floor bill analysis here and a press release on the bill here.)

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla
Photo Source -- Bonilla's office

The articles about the legislation by
Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, have appeared in the journal
Nature, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Huffington Post over the
past few days.

Alice Crisci, a California patient
advocate writing on the Huffington Post, yesterday remarked that
women egg providers should be treated the same as men involved in
scientific experiments.

“After all, aren't we past the days
when we treat women like they are less capable than men of making
sound decisions for their own well-being? It's my body and my choice
if I want to donate a dozen of my eggs to science. Who knows -- maybe
it's my egg that will be used to find a cure for cancer.”

Debra Saunders, writing a column in the
Chronicle on Sunday, said,

“That sperm-egg parity argument is so
bogus. When men donate sperm, they risk second thoughts about
unknown, random offspring, but they do not risk serious medical side
effects. Egg donation, on the other hand, can be hazardous to your
health. The New York Times reports, "Egg donors can suffer
serious side effects from the powerful hormones needed to generate
multiple eggs." And: "The most significant risk is ovarian
hyper-stimulation syndrome, which can cause bloating, abdominal pain
and, rarely, blood clots, kidney failure and other life-threatening
ailments."

Charlotte Schubert, writing in Nature
on Tuesday, said,

“In practical terms, the bill would
bump up payments from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In Oregon —
which, like most states, does not have regulations governing egg
donation — women recently received $3,000–7,000 each for eggs
used in a study that created stem-cell
lines from cloned human embryos.”

Prices for eggs can run substantially higher depending on the characteristics of the supplier.

Bonilla's office said the bill did not
come up for a vote during today's Senate floor session but could come
up next Thursday.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/O3i-n3NxdnA/pay-for-eggs-legislation-draws-more.html