Willing donor for couple seeking great genes. Ethicists fear that if fees rise much higher, the financial lure may cause women to take a step they will later regret. Some egg donation programs are concerned enough about the industry that they've taken steps to ensure good treatment of donors. In 1995, for example, the Beverly Hills brokerage completely revamped its egg donor program, instituting donor-friendly policies that few other programs follow. Couples cannot give away frozen embryos unless the egg donor approves.
Every donor talks to a counselor before donating.
These policies may seem only sensible and humane. The federal government does not impose any regulations on egg donation. Nor do most states. And the five states that do regulate the procedure confine themselves almost entirely to laws about the rights of egg recipients. The only existing guidelines for egg donor programs were issued in 1993 by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the professional group for fertility doctors.