Ethics, social, legal, counselling
Subsidized in-vitro fertilization treatment and the effect on the number of egg sharers

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1472-6483(10)62009-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Egg sharing remains a controversial practice, mainly because of the presumed element of payment. In order to find out to what extent financial considerations motivated the women to share their oocytes, the data on egg sharing in Belgium are analysed. Belgium began providing full reimbursement for six in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles on 1 July 2003. Since this date, the numbers of egg sharers dropped approximately 70%. Although these data show that a large number of the donors were mainly motivated by the reduced cost of IVF, it cannot be concluded that money was the only motive to share. Nevertheless, to increase voluntary consent by egg sharers, public funding for infertility treatment should be provided.

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Guido Pennings is Professor of Ethics and Bioethics in the Department of Philosophy and Moral Science at Ghent University, Belgium. He has published numerous articles on the ethical aspects of medically assisted reproduction and genetics. He is a member of several ethics committees including the National Advisory Committee on Bioethics of Belgium. He is co-ordinator of the ESHRE Special Interest Group on Ethics and Law and the ESHRE Task Force on Ethics.

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Cited by (23)

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    While proponents see this as an evidence-based and optimal solution to donor egg shortages (Simons and Ahuja, 2005a,b), opponents have criticized it as a ‘trade’ that is ‘founded on the needs of a desperate group of infertile women who see no other way to obtain IVF treatment’ (Lieberman, 2005a). Introduced in Britain, egg-sharing schemes now exist in various countries, including Israel, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Greece (Ahuja and Simons, 1998), Belgium (Pennings and Devroey, 2006) and the USA (Sauer, 2001), and have even been suggested as a cross-border solution to donor egg shortages (Heng, 2005, 2006). In the UK, egg-sharing providers constitute just over 40% of all UK egg donors (average 2000–2008, original calculation from Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) figures), and since 2007 it has also been possible to egg share by giving eggs for stem-cell research (rather than to a recipient for reproductive purposes).

  • Oocyte vitrification technology has made egg-sharing donation easier in China

    2012, Reproductive BioMedicine Online
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    To meet the demands in the USA, it is estimated that more than 100,000 young women have sold or donated their oocytes (Schneider, 2008). In recent years, the concept of egg sharing has been accepted in some countries, including the UK (Blyth et al., 2004), Belgium (Pennings and Devroey, 2006) and the People’s Republic of China (Heng and Zhang, 2007). In China, the regulations controlling oocyte donation were issued in 2003, with a supplement in 2006.

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Guido Pennings is Professor of Ethics and Bioethics in the Department of Philosophy and Moral Science at Ghent University, Belgium. He has published numerous articles on the ethical aspects of medically assisted reproduction and genetics. He is a member of several ethics committees including the National Advisory Committee on Bioethics of Belgium. He is co-ordinator of the ESHRE Special Interest Group on Ethics and Law and the ESHRE Task Force on Ethics.

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