Fertility
Racial discrimination: the dark side of egg donation
White women are paid up to eight times more for their eggs than Black women in the US, according to data uncovered by the author of a new book which exposes the lesser-known ramifications of egg donation.
Eggonomics by Diane M. Tober reveals statistics and stories which illuminate the rarely-told, complex realities of egg donation, and airs personal accounts of disturbing power imbalances within the industry.
The book takes a microscope to the industry across the globe, but in particular in the U.S. and Spain.
Tober has found shocking disparities between the top rates of pay for donors by race. In her study of over 900 egg donors, the top rate for White donors in the U.S. was around $100k, relative to Black donors who received a top rate of only $12k.
In one case she found, eggs from a ‘perfect donor’ were valued by prospective parents as worth $250,000. This donor was Chinese American and had a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Exposing the perspective of the industry, Tober says: “Donor profiles are the marketing tools used to attract intended parents, and those women who possess desired social and physical traits will sell faster to a wide range of intended parents than others.”
Eggonomics identifies the precarious financial position of many donors and uncovers how many have been motivated to donate eggs following the ‘cost of living’ crisis, or due to high student debt.
In the context of the pursuit of the ideal genetics, and the market value attached to them, the word ‘eugenics’ crops up repeatedly. One donor said: “…from me they wanted really, really specific things, and I was feeling like, “Oh my god. This is eugenics”.”
Writing in Eggonomics, Tober summarises the situation for many donors: “Donors are not industry-serving machines producing products by the double or triple dozens. Sometimes they donate eggs out of financial need, or because they want to help others, and most have mixed motivations.
“Wherever they are in the world, they are human beings with their own lives, emotions, and physical bodies they put on the line—for a whole range of complicated reasons—to help create families for the more affluent.
“Many come to find that the abundance of eggs they counted on in their youth are not available to them later when they are ready to start their own families, and the only biological children they will ever have are being raised by someone else.
“Until extensive longitudinal research into egg donor health and wellbeing is conducted, and care for donors is prioritized, there will be no justice for egg donors or the families they help create.”
Tober also raises questions about whether donors may be at an increased risk of health problems following medication and subsequent donation – especially those who donate repeatedly.
She includes accounts of young, healthy donors developing health problems soon after donating. The author notes that a disproportionate number seem to have no other relevant risk factors, and that some of them have physicians who suspected a causal link between egg donation and subsequent illness, and she calls for more research to be done to fully understand all the risks.
Weaving between the perils and the joys egg donors experience, Tober recognises the complexities involved in being a donor. She calls for sweeping changes in policy and to the industry to both improve transparency and enhance egg donor rights and safety.
To that end, in Eggonomics, Tober sets out a list of recommendations for the industry, including:
- Recognise donors’ rights to truthful, thorough, and standardised informed consent, including how any pre-existing conditions (e.g., PCOS, endometriosis) may be aggravated by the hormones used;
- Reduce potential for donor undue inducement by eliminating financial incentives from donor recruitment advertisements and materials;
- Implement independent legal counsel for donors with enforceable terms when donor contracts are violated or when they experience medical harm;
- Recognise the rights of donors as primary patients by implementing best practices and providing donors with their medical records;
- Recognise “no means no” when a donor expresses even once that she is not interested in doing another cycle and enforce ASRM six-cycle limits;
- Rescind taxation on donor compensation;
- Implement practices to recognise all donors and intended parents have a right to be treated with respect regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and patient status;
- Recognise the rights of donor-conceived people to have access to medical information and information about their identities;
- Establish a three-pronged donor registry to track donor cycles, enforce live birth limits, and enable immediate and long-term follow-up on donor health.
The Covid vaccine is not behind a fall in childbirth, a Swedish study has shown.
Rumours on social media have alleged that the jab impairs chances of becoming pregnant.
In the later stages of the pandemic, some countries, including Sweden, saw fewer births, raising the question of whether vaccines were responsible.
The study analysed all women aged 18 to 45 years in Region Jönköping County, Sweden, a total of almost 60,000 women. Of these, 75 per cent were vaccinated once or more against Covid-19 from 2021 to 2024.
Researchers at Linköping University used healthcare records on childbirths, miscarriages and deaths.
Comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, the researchers found no statistically significant differences in childbirths or miscarriages.
This aligns with previous studies finding no link between the Covid vaccine and fertility.
Toomas Timpka is professor of social medicine at Linköping University.
Timpka said: “We see no difference in childbirth rates between those who have taken the vaccine and those who haven’t.
“We’ve also looked at all registered miscarriages among those who became pregnant, and we see no difference between the groups there either.
“Our conclusion is that it’s highly unlikely that the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 was behind the decrease in childbirth during the pandemic.”
The researchers suggest other explanations for the dip in births.
People now in their 30s were born in the late 1990s, a period of economic strain and lower birth rates in Sweden, shrinking today’s cohort of potential parents.
Additional pandemic-related factors, such as health and economic concerns and changed behaviour during lockdown, may also have reduced childbirth.
A strength of the study is its large, nationally representative cohort.
The analysis adjusted for age to avoid masking any potential vaccine effect on childbirth.
A Florida couple have sued an IVF clinic after giving birth to a baby who is not genetically related to either of them.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills hired IVF Life, which operates as the Fertility Center of Orlando in Longwood to help them conceive about five years ago using in vitro fertilisation.
The couple had an embryo implanted in April and welcomed a baby girl nine months later, but soon suspected the clinic had made an error.
Both Score and Mills are white, but the baby had the appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child, according to the lawsuit.
Genetic testing confirmed that the baby is not biologically theirs. The couple filed the lawsuit on 22 January after allegedly trying to contact the clinic multiple times without getting a response.
Jack Scarola, one of the couple’s lawyers, told the Orlando Sentinel: “They have fallen in love with this child. They would be thrilled in the knowledge that they could raise this child.
“But their concern is that this is someone else’s child, and someone could show up at any time and claim the baby and take that baby away from them.”
Score and Mills are also concerned that one of the three fertilised eggs they had frozen at the clinic may have been mistakenly implanted into someone else.
They have demanded that the clinic share what happened with all other patients who had embryos stored at the facility during the year before Score gave birth. They also want IVF Life to pay for genetic testing of every child born as a result of its services over the last five years, and to account for their remaining embryos.
The couple said in a statement: “We love our little girl. We would hope to be able to continue to raise her ourselves with confidence that she won’t be taken away from us.
“At the same time, we are aware that we have a moral obligation to find and notify her biological parents, as it is in her best interest that her genetic parents are provided the option to raise her as their own.”
A family spokesperson said: “Based upon leads discovered to date, and despite the lack of help or cooperation from the clinic, there is hope that we will be able to introduce our daughter to her genetic parents and to find our own genetic child soon.”
The lawsuit names IVF Life LLC and Dr Milton McNichol, who runs the clinic.
The Fertility Center of Orlando had posted a notice on its website stating it is “actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them.”
The notice was removed after a court hearing on Wednesday.
During the hearing, the judge ordered the clinic to submit a thorough plan for handling the situation by Friday.
McNichol was reprimanded by Florida’s Board of Medicine in May 2024 after an inspection of the clinic in June 2023 revealed several issues, including equipment that did not meet current performance standards, failure to comply with a risk-management plan and missing medication.
He was fined US$5,000.
Fertility innovation is to set to take centre stage at Femtech World’s third annual awards event.
The Femtech World Awards will celebrate some of the best examples of leadership, innovation and impact in key areas that affect women’s health and wellbeing.
The Fertility Innovation of the Year award celebrates a pioneering product, service or initiative that is transforming fertility care and support.
The winner will have demonstrated exceptional innovation in helping individuals or couples navigate fertility journeys, whether through technology, treatments, education, accessibility, or emotional support.
Consideration will be given to scientific advancement, inclusivity, user impact and the ability to break barriers in fertility health.
The award is sponsored by FinDBest IVF – a global B2B digital platform created to simplify and accelerate how IVF and ART manufacturers connect with trusted, pre-vetted distributors around the world.
Launched in 2024, the platform addresses a long-standing challenge in the MedTech sector—fragmented, costly, and inefficient market access—by offering a curated, country-specific directory of active partners, complete with key segmentation, certification indicators, and direct contact tools.
From consumables and lab equipment to AI-powered embryo selection and genetic testing solutions, FinDBest makes it faster and easier for companies to scale internationally—without relying on expensive congresses or cold outreach.
Juan A. Jiménez is founder and CEO of FinDBest IVF.
He said: “As part of its commitment to driving smarter access to reproductive innovation, FinDBest IVF is proudly supporting the Femtech World Fertility Innovation Awards for the second year in a row.
“This collaboration reflects two core beliefs at the heart of the platform.
“First, FinDBest IVF was created to accelerate not only the discovery of innovative fertility solutions but their global adoption.
“By supporting these awards, the platform helps amplify breakthrough technologies—from AI-based egg quality tools to next-gen IVF microdevices—and ensures they can reach the right partners and clinics faster.
“Second, the Awards align with FinDBest’s vision of building a 360-degree commercialisation ecosystem, where innovation is not just recognised, but connected to real-world opportunities.
“Many award nominees are pioneering startups and clinical researchers—exactly the kind of innovators who benefit from FinDBest’s support in navigating regulatory complexity, distributor validation, and go-to-market strategies across diverse regions.
“Together with Femtech World, FinDBest IVF is helping to spotlight, support, and scale the future of fertility care.”
Find out more about the Femtech World Awards and enter for free here.
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