Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Payment to gamete donors: equality, gender equity, or solidarity?

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Regulation of payment to gamete donors varies substantially across countries. The development of an ethically sustainable governance system of payments in gamete donation demands that the preferences of different stakeholders be heard. This study intends to contribute to improving the understanding of payment to gamete donors by analysing the views of donors and recipients about the preferred form of payment and its associations with their sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 70 donors and 172 recipients recruited at the Portuguese Public Bank of Gametes (July 2017–June 2018). Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire. Views about the preferred form of payment were collected through a multiple-choice question and an open-ended item. Associations were quantified through χ2 tests; content analysis was conducted with the open-ended answers.

Results

Both donors (48.6%) and recipients (40.7%) considered that reimbursement is the preferred form of payment to ensure solidarity-based motivations to donate. This option was followed by compensation for non-financial losses (41.4% of donors; 33.7% of recipients) based on gender equity. Preference for a fixed reward (22.7% of recipients; 8.6% of donors) was less frequent among younger donors and married/living with a partner or employed recipients, being based on the promotion of equality.

Conclusion

In the context of the search for cross-border reproductive care and gamete circulation across countries, the findings from this study claim for the need to create solutions for payment to gamete donors that take into account gender equity and are simultaneously sensitive to donor’s actual expenses and further health complications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Human bodies: donation for medicine and research. London: Nuffield Council on Bioethics; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Blyth E, Yee S. Ka tat Tsang a. perspectives of Canadian oocyte donors and recipients on donor compensation and the establishment of a personal health information registry. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2012;34:72–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Financial compensation of oocyte donors: an Ethics Committee opinion. Fertil Steril. 2016;106:e15–9.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Pennings G. Central role of altruism in the recruitment of gamete donors. Monash Bioeth Rev. 2015;33:78–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law, III. Gamete and embryo donation. Hum Reprod Update. 2002;17:1407–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Waldby C, Kerridge I, Boulos M, Carroll K. From altruism to monetisation: Australian women’s ideas about money, ethics and research eggs. Soc Sci Med. 2013;94:34–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee MS, Farland L, Missmer S, Ginsburg ES. Limitations on the compensation of gamete donors: a public opinion survey. Fertil Steril. 2016;107:1355–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kalampalikis N, Haas V, Fieulaine N, Doumergue M, Deschamps G. Giving or giving back: new psychosocial insights from sperm donors in France. Psychol Health Med. 2013;18:1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Prainsack B. The “we” in the “me”: solidarity and health care in the era of personalized medicine. Sci Technol Hum Values. 2018;43:21–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Purewal S, van den Akker OBA. Systematic review of oocyte donation: investigating attitudes, motivations and experiences. Hum Reprod Update. 2009;15:499–515.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pennings G, Vayena E, Ahuja K. Balancing ethical criteria for the recruitment of gamete donors. In: Richards M, Pennings G, Appleby J, editors. Reproductive donation: policy, practice, and bioethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012. p. 150–67.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies. Opinion on the ethical implications of new health technologies and citizen participation Executive summary and Recommendations 2015. http://ec.europa.eu/research/ege/pdf/opinion-29_ege.pdf (14 November 2018, date last accessed).

  13. Silva SP, De Freitas C, Baía I, Samorinha C, Machado H, Silva S. Doação de gâmetas: questões sociais e éticas (não) respondidas em Portugal. Cad Saude Publica. 2019;35:e00122918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Cross-border reproductive care: an Ethics Committee opinion. Fertil Steril. 2016;106:1627–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. European Commission. Commission Staff Working Document on the implementation of the principle of voluntary and unpaid donation for human tissues and cells. Brussels: European Commission; 2016. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016SC0128&from=EN (2 October 2018, date last accessed).

  16. Ory SJ, editor. IFFS Surveillance 2016. https://journals.lww.com/grh/Fulltext/2016/09000/IFFS_Surveillance_2016.1.aspx (2 July 2018, date last accessed).

  17. Ministério da Saúde. Despacho n.° 3192/2017. Diário da República, 2.ª Série - N.°75; 2017; 7192–7193.

  18. Assembleia da República. Artigo 205.°, Alteração ao Decreto-Lei n.° 113/2011, de 29 de novembro. Diário da República, 1.ª série - N.° 62; 2016; 1096-(70).

  19. Silva S, Barros H. Perspectives on access to in vitro fertilization in Portugal. Rev Saúde Públ. 2012;46:344–50.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Byrd LM, Sidebotham M, Lieberman B. Egg donation - the donor’s view: an aid to future recruitment. Hum Fertil. 2002;5:175–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Ravelingien A, Provoost V, Wyverkens E, Buysse A, De Sutter P, Pennings G. Recipients’ views on payment of sperm donors. Reprod BioMed Online. 2015;31:225–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Espirito Santo E, Oliveira JBA, Petersen CG, Mauri AL, Baruffi RLR, Franco JG Jr. A survey on public opinion regarding financial incentives for oocyte donation in Brazil. JBRA Assist Reprod. 2013;17:173–9.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Kool EM, Bos AME, Van Der Graaf R, Fauser BCJM, Bredenoord AL. Ethics of oocyte banking for third- party assisted reproduction: a systematic review. Hum Reprod Update. 2018;24:615–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Sills ES, Collins GS, Walsh DJ, Omar AB, Salma U, Walsh APH. A descriptive study of selected oocyte, blood and organ/tissue donation features among fertility patients in Ireland. Hum Fertil. 2010;13:98–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lyall H, Gould GW, Cameron IT. Should sperm donors be paid? A survey of the attitudes of the general public. Hum Reprod. 1998;13(3):771–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Field A. Discovering statistics using SPSS. 3rd ed. London: Sage Publications; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Stemler S. An overview of content analysis. Pract Assess Res Eval. 2001;7:1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Isasi RM, Knoppers BM. Monetary payments for the procurement of oocytes for stem cell research: in search of ethical and political consistency. Stem Cell Res. 2007;1:37–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zimet GD. Behavioral research on biomedical sexual health technologies: opportunities and directions. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2010;42:12–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Ives J, Dunn M, Molewijk B, Schildmann J, Bærøe K, Frith L, et al. Standards of practice in empirical bioethics research: towards a consensus. BMC Med Ethics. 2018;19(1):68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Prainsack B, Buyx A. Ethics of healthcare policy and the concept of solidarity. In: Kuhlmann E, Blank RH, Bourgeault IL, Wendt C, editors. The Palgrave international handbook of healthcare policy and governance. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2015. p. 649–64.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  32. Bodri D, Guillen JJ, Polo A, Trullenque M, Esteve C, Coll O. Complications related to ovarian stimulation and oocyte retrieval in 4052 oocyte donor cycles. Reprod BioMed Online. 2008;17:237–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kramer W, Schneider J, Schultz N. US oocyte donors: a retrospective study of medical and psychologic issues. Hum Reprod. 2009;24:3144–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Bracewell-Milnes T, Saso S, Bora S, Ismail AM, Al-Memar M, Hamed AH, et al. Investigating psychosocial attitudes, motivations and experiences of oocyte donors, recipients and egg sharers: a systematic review. Hum Reprod Update. 2016;22:450–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Tourangeau R. Defining hard-to-survey populations. In: Tourangeau R, Edwards B, Johnson TP, Wolter KMand Bates N, editors. Hard-to-survey populations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2014. p. 3–20.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  36. INE. Higher education rate of resident population aged between 25 and 64 years old by place of residence, sex and age group (date of Census 2011). Statistics Portugal. https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&indOcorrCod=0006399&contexto=bd&selTab=tab2&xlang=en (26 September 2019, date last accessed).

  37. Salama M, Isachenko V, Isachenko E, Rahimi G, Mallmann P, Westphal LM, et al. Cross border reproductive care (CBRC): a growing global phenomenon with multidimensional implications (a systematic and critical review). J Assist Reprod Genet. 2018;35:1277–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all donors and recipients who participated in the study, the health professionals and staff of the Portuguese Public Bank of Gametes who collaborated in the participants’ recruitment and Liliana Abreu and Sandra Pinto da Silva for their contribution in data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), the Operational Programmes Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) and Human Capital (POCH), Portugal 2020, and the European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund, under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016762, Ref. FCT PTDC/IVC-ESCT/6294/2014, the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. FCT UID/DTP/04750/2013), the PhD grant SFRH/BD/111686/2015 (Baía I), the contract Ref. DL57/2016/CP1336/CT0001 (De Freitas C) and the FCT Investigator contract IF/01674/2015 (Silva S).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EPIUnit – Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas, no. 135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal

    C. Samorinha, C. De Freitas, I. Baía & S. Silva

  2. Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses e Educação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal

    C. De Freitas, I. Baía & S. Silva

  3. Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-IUL), University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal

    C. De Freitas

  4. Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS), Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    H. Machado

  5. Centro de Procriação Medicamente Assistida / Banco Público de Gâmetas; Serviço de Ginecologia - Departamento da Mulher e da Medicina Reprodutiva, Centro Materno-Infantil do Norte, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, EPE, Largo Professor Abel Salazar, 4099-001, Porto, Portugal

    E. Vale-Fernandes

Authors
  1. C. Samorinha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. De Freitas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. I. Baía
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H. Machado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E. Vale-Fernandes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S. Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Silva.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Samorinha, C., De Freitas, C., Baía, I. et al. Payment to gamete donors: equality, gender equity, or solidarity?. J Assist Reprod Genet 37, 133–140 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01625-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01625-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation