{"id":15300,"date":"2022-12-08T18:12:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T15:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selectednews.info\/ru\/can-you-really-make-80k-selling-your-eggs\/"},"modified":"2022-12-08T18:12:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T15:12:54","slug":"can-you-really-make-80k-selling-your-eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectednews.info\/ru\/can-you-really-make-80k-selling-your-eggs\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You *Really* Make $80K Selling Your Eggs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In season two of HBO\u2019s The Sex Lives of College Girls, Kimberly Finkle (Pauline Chalamet) finds herself in a financial predicament. She\u2019s lost her scholarship and is in desperate need of money for tuition. She considers her options: Apply for grants, enlist in the military, or wait: what is this pamphlet she spots in the fictional Essex College\u2019s financial aid office? \u201cDid you know you could have $80,000 inside of you?!\u201d it reads. \u201cLooking for students from elite colleges willing to sell their eggs.\u201d Kimberly explores the idea with a succinct pros and cons list. (Pro: \u201cHelp a family,\u201d Con: \u201cRun into future kids at a shopping mall??\u201d) Sex Lives doesn\u2019t water down the intensity of the egg donation process, chronicling Kimberly\u2019s inconveniently timed hormone injections in a frat house bathroom and her post-op discomfort. But it doesn\u2019t exactly paint an accurate picture either, failing to account for the rigorous screening process, the many doctor\u2019s visits, and the growing privacy concerns surrounding anonymous donation\u2014not to mention how highly unlikely it is to walk away at the end of a cycle with that kind of cash.Pauline Chalamet\u2019s Kimberly sells her eggs to pay for tuition in the second season of The Sex Lives of College Girls.Katrina Marcinowski\/HBO MaxLike Kimberly, many egg donors are young women in need of money, though most do not come upon it via well-placed informational literature. Potential donors are more likely to resemble Allie Wertheimer, who found herself strapped for cash when she lost her job at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Days after she was laid off, she was scrolling through Facebook when a string of advertisements caught her eye. Wertheimer, now 25, found that the platform served her ads that implored her to consider \u201cdonating\u201d \u2014 or rather, selling \u2014 her eggs. \u201cAlmost every single ad on Facebook was for that,\u201d she says. Some of them promised up to $10,000 (a far cry from the $80,000 payout on Sex Lives), piquing her interest enough that she began filling out an application. \u201cI seriously considered it because I needed money really, really badly at the time,\u201d she says. \u201cI was filling out the form online, and then I was like, \u2018Wait, what the fuck am I doing? I don\u2019t want to do this.\u2019\u201d Wertheimer had seen these ads before. They became a regular fixture on her feed when she was unemployed following her 2019 graduation from New York University. \u201cI was very actively looking for work, and I was getting ads for donation every single day,\u201d she says. Like Wertheimer, young women often see advertisements for egg donation on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube \u2014 and many report a spike while on the job hunt. \u201cGoogle ad tracking knows I\u2019m applying for jobs so now I\u2019m getting egg donor ads,\u201d one user tweeted<\/a>. \u201cShould I do it? Payout is supposedly $48k.\u201d\u201cI was very actively looking for work, and I was getting ads for donation every single day.\u201dThe Supreme Court\u2019s overturning of Roe v. Wade unleashed a tidal wave of privacy concerns that would have been inconceivable in 1973, from the security of period tracking apps to Meta handing over private messages about abortion. But ethical qualms in the reproductive health arena reach far beyond abortion. Today, the entire process of egg donation is inextricably linked with technology. Advancements in the fertility field are a double-edged sword, and helping people grow their families can come at the expense of donors.Fertility clinics usually find would-be donors like Wertheimer through their internet activity. Clinics use behavioral data, which monitors digital footprints, from web searches to credit-card purchases. \u201cThere are a hundred companies out there that sell third-party data that they\u2019re collecting on users online,\u201d says Marcus Kroon, senior vice president of the advertising firm Deutsch LA. Clinics also find potential donors through demographic targeting, in which a person\u2019s data is bundled with those who share similar traits, such as age, gender, location, education, and political leanings. (Companies like Oracle sell this segmented data to help narrow the scope of who sees the ads.) Finally, geofencing allows companies to narrow targets using location data by placing digital ads within a physical perimeter. The presence of a phone within a geofencing perimeter can cause targeted ads to bleed outside of the boundary, too, making them inescapable. \u201cWe can serve an ad on TV because the mobile phone is connected to the WiFi, which is connected to the IP address,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of creepy. We can place them anywhere we want.\u201d This method of advertising is only going to become more ubiquitous. Global digital ad spending reached $491 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to $500 billion in 2022.Clinics also use social media for ad targeting, Kroon says. \u201cTwitter sells most of their data. Somebody can be targeted not necessarily just on Twitter, but outside of Twitter, too, because the data gets sold, and then we can reach that person on YouTube or anywhere else, really.\u201d Kroon also acknowledges the use of app data. \u201cIf you wanted to target phones with fertility tracking apps, for example, you can do that too,\u201d he says. Employing a combination of demographics, app and social media data, and search retargeting can help narrow campaigns down to a very targeted audience. These techniques allow for people like Wertheimer to see targeted ads without ever so much as Googling \u201cegg donation.\u201dTo cash-strapped college students, selling eggs may seem like an easy solution.D-BASE\/\/Getty ImagesWhile the first live birth from a frozen oocyte occurred in 1986, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine didn\u2019t remove the \u201cexperimental\u201d label from egg freezing until 2012. Until just a few years ago, most successful IVF cycles came from fresh eggs, which would match a donor to a carrier on the same timeline. But as technology became more sophisticated, allowing for long-term freezing and preservation of eggs (not just frozen embryos, which have seen successful live births since 1984), clinics began to shift the supply and demand balance to mimic that of sperm donation. With more frozen eggs available, potential parents gained autonomy in creating their future offspring and donors were given the opportunity to complete cycles at their convenience.\u201cIf you would have talked to me five years ago it was all about fresh donor cycles. The donor would complete the cycle in real time, and then we do a transfer,\u201d says Dr. Deborah Wachs, a Bay Area-based reproductive endocrinologist. Today it\u2019s the complete opposite. \u201cNow, the vast majority of patients are looking for a donor through an egg bank,\u201d she says. Desperate to fix the deficit, many took to social media to recruit donors, including Wachs, whose practice posted ads on its own Facebook page, as well as in print and on the radio. \u201cAgencies were much more targeted on college campuses,\u201d Wachs explains. Donating eggs is grueling. Just a fraction of applicants (fewer than 1 percent in some clinics) pass the prerequisite psychological evaluation, extensive genetic and fertility testing, and meet the laundry list of criteria required of donors. If accepted, the donor begins a two-week course of birth control pills starting on the third day of their period. A few days later, they will begin taking daily hormone injections of luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormones to trick the brain into growing multiple follicles \u2014 the fluid-filled sacs that house egg cells \u2014 as opposed to the singular follicle that matures during a normal menstrual cycle. After 10 or 11 days of injections, the donor takes a \u201ctrigger\u201d shot to release the follicles. Thirty-six hours later, they are placed under general anesthesia for the 20- to 30-minute retrieval procedure, in which a doctor uses a transvaginal ultrasound to guide a hollow needle through the vagina to remove the eggs from the follicles.\u201cPeople say vaguely, \u2018I want to help somebody.\u2019 If they\u2019re not paying, I think they don\u2019t want to help as much.\u201dThe trigger shot, called Lupron, is one of the biggest advancements in fertility medicine, according to Wachs. \u201cLupron allows the eggs to mature and get ready for the day of the egg retrieval so that mature eggs can be collected,\u201d she says. \u201cBut then very quickly, it brings all the hormones back down to normal, and it brings the ovaries right back down to their normal size.\u201d Prior to the introduction of Lupron, patients were triggered with an injection of human chorionic gonadotropin, which carried a risk of hyperstimulation. In most cases, hyperstimulation causes sluggishness, nausea, bloating and general discomfort for a week or so after retrieval. \u201cIn its most severe form, hyperstimulation can result in fluid building up in the belly,\u201d Wachs says. \u201cIn its very dangerous form, you could get fluid in your lungs, fluid around the heart.\u201d However, Wachs underscores that while donation was once considered risky, it is a very safe procedure. \u201cA lot of that was back in the day where there just wasn\u2019t as good of an understanding of what we did,\u201d she says. \u201cThey weren\u2019t able to monitor as closely as we are now in terms of what we have with ultrasound and blood work.\u201dThanks to the recent ability to freeze eggs at -321\u00b0 Fahrenheit for decades, more and more donations are coming from strangers \u2014 as opposed to fresh donations from family or friends. But as the process becomes less rooted in emotion, the mindset has become less altruistic. \u201cPeople say vaguely, \u2018I want to help somebody,\u2019\u201d says Dr. Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist and founding head of the ethics division at the NYU School of Medicine. \u201cIf they\u2019re not paying, I think they don\u2019t want to help as much.\u201d (Caplan purposely refers to these paid transactions as sales rather than donations.)While financial compensation is an incentive, potential donors may be surprised to learn that walking out with an $80,000 check is all but impossible. Even the fine print of Kimberly\u2019s brochure on Sex Lives suggests otherwise: \u201cTypically, an egg donor fee will range from $35,000 to $80,000 per cycle. Those egg donors who have previously cycled or who have exceptional qualities may be paid more egg donor compensation,\u201d it reads. But outside of the HBO Cinematic Universe, the average payment is significantly less than even their fictional price floor. In August 2021, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine\u2019s Ethics Committee released its updated compensatory guidelines for clinics in which it recommended: \u201cTotal payments to donors in excess of $5,000 require justification and sums above $10,000 are not appropriate.\u201d The money given to the donor, the ARSM says, is not a sale, but compensation for the time, inconvenience, and demands of the process. Depending on the location, clinic, and experience, donors can expect to make between $5,000 and $10,000 per cycle, and are advised not to complete more than six cycles in their lifetime. Those who complete the maximum cycles are likely to make between $30,000 and $60,000 total \u2014 nowhere near the one-time rate of $80,000 that single-handedly pays off nearly two years of Kimberly\u2019s Essex tuition. Although the ASRM deems that individual clinics can set their own rates, it cautions that a high payout could cloud informed consent and encourage patients experiencing financial stress to donate purely out of necessity, not altruism. \u201cCompensation should be fair and not become an undue enticement that negatively impacts a donor\u2019s ability to make an informed decision about the donation process,\u201d says the Ethics Committee of the ASRM. Conversely, Caplan worries that donors are getting the short end of the stick, especially those without legal representation. \u201cThe woman who\u2019s unemployed and thinking this is a quick way to make money is likely going to settle for less,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need a lawyer to sell your house, but apparently you don\u2019t need one to sell your eggs.\u201d In most cases, the clinics are the big winners. \u201cWhen the eggs are frozen, they\u2019re divided into batches of six to eight eggs, and then sold for like 20 to 30 grand a batch,\u201d says Sophie Winkel, an IVF patient care coordinator in New York City. At Egg Bank America, donors can expect to be compensated between $5,000 and $10,000, while a \u201cpremium donor batch\u201d of five to seven frozen eggs are sold for $20,900. (Of course, prices vary clinic to clinic.) Winkel worries that this method is rife for exploitation, especially when advertising \u2014 or a television series \u2014 leads donors to expect a more substantial check. \u201cI think it\u2019s really misleading because it makes girls think, \u2018I\u2019ll just donate my eggs and make 100k,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s not how it works.\u201dWhile many clinics follow the ASRM compensatory recommendations, the advertising guidelines are often neglected. \u201cIf compensation is noted in advertisements, the existence of risks and burdens also should be acknowledged therein,\u201d the guidelines say. On Sex Lives, Kimberly\u2019s pamphlet has a \u201cpossible risks & complications\u201d subsection. But since people are more likely to see grabby social media ads, the risks are frequently left out. Wertheimer says the Facebook ads she saw were quick to trot out the five-figure payout, without mentioning the physical and emotional demands, or the potential risks. \u201cThe website that I looked at the most didn\u2019t really say much about what exactly the process was, unless I really investigated,\u201d she says. Instead, advertisers know to lead with the most enticing bait: the money. As targeted ads seek to capture young women\u2019s attention with high figures, potential donors are becoming more motivated by money \u2014 and often, $5,000 isn\u2019t cutting it. Some even pivot to black market clinics that don\u2019t follow industry safety protocols and donation standards to make as much as 10 times the ASRM recommendation \u2014 a much closer figure to Sex Lives\u2019 projected $80,000. Wachs worries that patients who are selling their eggs for an exorbitant fee are being coerced, and therefore, not truly consenting to the process. \u201cOur practice would never work with an agency that was compensating a donor that way,\u201d she says. Wachs has seen cases in her own practice where the donor seemed too highly motivated by finances and she felt uncomfortable working with them. \u201cAs a young woman, it\u2019s really important to know: How have you been targeted, and what\u2019s the motivation behind that?\u201d she says.For Caplan, the changing donation landscape leads to new concerns. While it is common for couples to seek out a donor with a similar ethnic background, he worries that selectivity can become a slippery slope to full-blown eugenics. He cites people who look for donors with elite degrees or highly valued physical features like height or eye color. \u201cIt moved over toward a more eugenic focus with people saying, \u2018I want an egg seller who\u2019s going to a good school and has certain properties and traits,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI always thought that was a little bit duplicitous, because you don\u2019t necessarily get what you\u2019re trying to pay for that way.\u201d Caplan also points out that selecting a highly educated donor with a cornucopia of desirable traits is not a foolproof way of producing an exceptional child. Potential donors may be surprised to learn that walking out with an $80,000 check is all but impossible.blackred\/\/Getty ImagesWhile Kimberly\u2019s fear of being discovered by potential future offspring at a shopping mall may elicit a laugh, it also points to the growing issue of anonymity \u2014 or lack thereof. Legal identification rights are a potential consequence of donating genetic material. Like with adoption cases, Caplan doubts the courts will protect donor anonymity. \u201cIf you\u2019re an egg seller, you will get discovered if somebody wants to, and courts will allow children access to your identity because they\u2019ve already done that a lot in the adoption space,\u201d he says. While clinics may try in good faith to protect donors, it is increasingly clear that they may not be able to. Today, thanks to the ubiquity of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services like AncestryDNA and 23andMe, anonymity is no longer a promise that clinics and agencies can make. A person who donated their eggs in their twenties in exchange for a few thousand dollars may end up with a child reaching out later, regardless of whether they want to be found. \u201cWe used to call them anonymous donors,\u201d Wachs says. \u201cThat term is not used at all anymore, because we just don\u2019t believe that we can tell a donor that she would remain anonymous.\u201dThanks to the sophistication and availability of genetic services, a close enough DNA match can lead to discovery\u2014and there is already an established legal precedent to do so. In 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo, better known as the Golden State Killer, was arrested decades after the case went cold when investigators were able to use forensic genetic genealogy to track him down. DeAngelo was discovered in part thanks to for-profit genealogy services (in this specific instance, the website MyHeritage had a relative\u2019s DNA that cracked the case). Many DNA services, like Ancestry, do not cooperate with law enforcement per company policy. But the ability to turn away law enforcement is on unsteady ground. In 2019, a Florida judge allowed law enforcement access to every single profile on GEDmatch, dealing a massive blow to DNA privacy.\u201cWhat you may think you want when you\u2019re 25 years old can completely change.\u201dWertheimer isn\u2019t worried. \u201cWhatever the government wants to know, they\u2019re gonna know,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to concern myself with worrying about keeping these things from these scary authoritative agencies. There\u2019s nothing I could do about it.\u201d As most egg donors nowadays have grown up in the digital age, the potential of being discovered by an offspring isn\u2019t as earth-shattering as it once was. \u201cYoung women live their lives in a fishbowl,\u201d Wachs says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been surprised at how that doesn\u2019t necessarily seem so overwhelming for them. Years ago the idea of potentially being found was a very scary thing.\u201d Still, as donors may be growing more comfortable with the idea of being discovered, Wachs says it remains a provider\u2019s responsibility to protect a patient as much as possible. \u201cWhat you may think you want when you\u2019re 25 years old can completely change. When you\u2019re fully grown with a family of your own, you may never want to even acknowledge to your partner or to your children that you did that,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, I think that\u2019s something that we\u2019re very clear on is not taking what a young woman says and assuming that\u2019s how she\u2019s going to feel 20 years down.\u201dKimberly Finkle awoke from her retrieval procedure content and at peace. After all, she had just done a good deed and solved her tuition woes in one fell swoop. While the plotline may have been open and shut, it\u2019s not that simple in real life. For Wertheimer, her eggs don\u2019t have a price tag. \u201cEnough money to go through all that shit?\u201d she says. \u201cNo way.\u201dHannah Jackson (she\/her) is a culture writer whose work has appeared in Vogue, The Cut, W, InStyle, Nylon, and more. Follow her on Twitter<\/a> or Instagram.\u00a0