Sperm and Egg Donations Up In Tough Times

By: | WSPA-TV
Published: July 07, 2009

At Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group, or PREG for short, Dr. John Payne says they've seen a 50 percent increase in the number of people applying online to donate eggs.
He says, "Certainly we see everyday there have been more layoffs and money is tight and prices increasing people are looking for a way to make ends meet or increase their income and it certainly on the surface can seem like a quick easy payday."
The same is true for sperm donation around the country. Dr. Payne says the increase in applicants is good news, because there are more couples than ever before looking for help.
He says, "There's more and more need for donor eggs as women put off child bearing for furthering careers, education, later marriages, re-marriages."
He says in the Upstate you can make four thousand dollars if your egg is picked and sperm donors can make about one hundred dollars per collection. However, Dr. Payne says its not that easy to be a donor.
"We find that the majority of women that begin the process don't meet the initial questions."
You have to be between 21 and 32, a non-smoker and meet a whole host of other physical and mental requirements set by the FDA. He says, "It could be several month before you are compensated or it could be a year or more. It is not a quick buck that can be earned from it."
But for the ones that do choose to make money through egg donation, he says it's a good thing because you are giving couples more of a choice when they are struggling to become a family.
Dr. Payne says if you choose to donate an egg, you only get paid once you pass all the health criteria and a family selects your egg to use.
He says in other areas of the country you can make up to six thousand dollars for an egg donation and you are limited to about 4 to 6 donations in your lifetime.
For sperm donation it can take 6 months before you will receive any payment because it has to be tested for genetic disease. For more information click on this link.