Ladies! NY Taxpayers Will Pay Big Bucks for Your Eggs

New York taxpayers will soon become the first in the nation to pay women to donate their eggs for stem cell research. The plan was approved last month by the Empire State Stem Cell Board, which helps administer the state's $600 million allocation for 11 years of stem-cell studies. Starting next year, donors will be paid at least $5,000 and up to $10,000 for their eggs. And even women with health problems which would normally exclude them from egg donation will get a piece of the action because researchers want to study the genetics of various diseases. The process involves hormone injections, producing more eggs per cycle than would be considered normal and retrieval with anesthesia—all of which makes bioethicists like Debra Mathews uncomfortable. Mathews tells AP, "We don't really have good data on the risks. You're asking women to undergo this unknown risk for unknown benefit." But donors like Hanqi Miao know of one nice benefit; she's being paid $5,000 to donate her eggs at a fertility center and asks, "Who doesn't want money in your hand?"

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By John Del Signore in News on July 31, 2009 10:04 AM

Comments [rss]

Hanqi Miao

This is hanqi miao herself. I was considering to donate
eggs when the clinic ask if i would do an interview about egg donation. During the interview is when i found out that each of my egg will swell to PEAR SIZE so i told them i dont want to do it any more and was never paid that $5000 mentioned in your article. J

NannyState

But...if they need eggs, they might never find a cure for living in Great Neck.

dadoc

But are they free-range ovaries?

(Sorry Nanny State, I had to jump in there)

NannyState

Ha!

Tpooh2

I used to work as a consultant in Presbyterian's fertility clinic in 2004-05.

The entire process takes about 2-3 weeks. The only harrowing part is the administering the Follistem injections yourself at night, other than that we hardly got complaints from women.

They used to pay 8K for eggs, I'm not sure if anything has changed from now till then...and if you have a good tax person...you won't have to worry about paying too much. (At least, thats what the repeat donors used to tell me)

kplunkett

That $5k isn't that amazing after being taxed on it....

americaonline

I'm going to go ahead and stereotype the people selling their eggs and say that I doubt 99% of them have ever filed taxes...

Tpooh2

Honey, you would be surprised!!

Most of the women I interviewed were professionals of all races. The more popular reasons I got were to pay student loans to down payments on houses.

Gnomie

I know people who have considered donating their eggs but are too bothered by the idea of having a child they never meet, this could be a great alternative

Kojak

If women can sell their eggs, why can't I sell my Jizz?

One sperm from me sells for $1, so that's $100-$500 Million dollars per squirt. I only sell quality seed.

hotstepper

hey happy pants, it's called a sperm bank. i did some research in your honor though it won't be as lucrative a venture as you had hoped...not passing judgment on your sperm quality of course!

http://www.sperm1.com/sbny/donor.html

"Anonymous" donors will receive $100.00 for each acceptable sample.

"Open ID" donors will receive $500.00 for each acceptable sample."

Kojak

$500 bucks?! My seed is far more valuable than that. No deal.

Jen S

Please stop referring to it as your "seed"!! Too close to lunch!

hotstepper

seriously. kojak's particular confluence of gross and funny is not good when hungry. hold the mayo.

Jen S

And your donation is infinitely easier than donating an egg. "Complications" aside, we can't drink for weeks!

JacqueMehoff

Freakamonics, right?

it's all good, them eggs are not being used anyway, right?

Politburo

I'm a little confused. Egg harvesting has been going on for 25 years. How is it that we do not have data on the risks?

And what do bioethicists do when they're not getting interviewed by the press?