Selling your sperm or eggs is illegal in Australia, and has been for a long time. Unlike other parts of the world, where you can make a considerable profit.
People across the world are making up to $10,000 per egg cycle, and hundreds of dollars per sperm donation.
In part one of The Briefing’s limited series on selling eggs and sperm – Women’s health and IVF expert Karin Hammarberg unpacks what it would look like if legislation changed:
“You can imagine a woman donating eggs, that is quite a complicated process, might require several days of work and so forth, and I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect
that someone just out of the goodness of their hearts,” Hammarberg said.
Australians are only able to participate in ‘altruistic donation’ of eggs and sperm, meaning donating with no personal profit and in a highly regulated system.
It is illegal to take payment for any human tissue, including eggs and sperm.
In part two of The Briefing‘s limited series on selling eggs and sperm – Fertility Reproductive Counsellor Narelle Dickinson shares the risks of legalisation:
Dickinson said that currently in Australia, there is very minimal compensation for donors, around $50 to $100. She discussed the risks of legalising egg and sperm sales:
“Let’s talk the classic heterosexual couple origin story. We wanted to have a baby very, very much. We tried for years and years, it didn’t work. And so a very lovely lady gave us some eggs and then we had you. How did you choose your donor, mum? Oh, well, I went through a catalogue until I found all of the features, and I paid for the ones that I really wanted. Now, if I’m starting to sound a little bit hysterical, this is exactly the way these the paid donations work,” Dickinson said.
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