China’s model of egg donation is a policy lesson for Britain

In a move designed to increase the UK’s supply of donor eggs, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has recently agreed to a fixed-sum compensation policy for donors “which better reflects their expenses” and inconvenience. Such a policy, however, which is reliant on non-patient donors for its success, is in contrast to what appears the system in China, where egg donors can only be recruited from those having IVF (i.e. patient donors) and on a conditional egg-sharing basis. Commitment to an egg-sharing policy in the UK would provide a more equitable system of egg donation than a compensation policy.