Toxic money or paid altruism: the meaning of payments for identity‐release gamete donors

Abstract

Public discourses commonly frame gamete, organ and other forms of bodily donation as altruistic 'gifts'. However, despite on-going debates about the ethics of payments to donors, few studies have examined the views of donors themselves regarding the meaning of payments and their compatibility (or not) with understandings of these practices as gifts. This article addresses this issue, analysing 24 in-depth interviews with UK identity-release gamete donors. It was crucial to all participants that their donation be viewed as fundamentally other-oriented, motivated by the desire to help others. However, whilst egg donors often accommodated payment within this narrative, male participants explained that any money would taint the gift they had given. I argue that sperm donors faced particular challenges to incorporating payment within a gift narrative for two key reasons: first, sperm donors relied on a discourse of 'pure altruism', including absolute opposition between gifts and market exchange, in order to present their donation as other-oriented. In contrast, egg donors were also able to mobilise a discourse of relational giving to present their donations as a personal gift. Second, according to a continued stereotype of sperm donors as financially motivated students, their payments have already been culturally earmarked as side-line earnings.

Fertility stakeholders’ concerns regarding payment for egg and sperm donation in New Zealand and Australia

“…However, concerns about payment attracting donors with undesirable characteristics may be unfounded, and may be based on the assumption, as was the case in this study, that financial and altruistic motives are diametrically opposed. This viewpoint has been contested in research suggesting that altruistic and financial motives may often co-exist, even when there is financial inducement (Kool et al, 2019;Pennings et al, 2014;Pennings, 2015;Van den Broeck et al, 2013), and that introducing money does not automatically change the altruistic nature of donation (Almeling, 2011;Gilman, 2018). This may mitigate some of the negative associations reported about donors who are paid.…”

“…Several researchers ( Daniels, 2000 , Gilman, 2018 , Yee, 2009 ) have suggested that overt payment for gametes may depersonalize the role of the donor, or be seen as a means to disconnect the donor from their gametes, potentially reducing their interest in donation outcomes, such as the donor offspring and their wellbeing. It is possible that such depersonalisation may then facilitate acts of information omission or commission of relevant history.…”

“…This viewpoint has been contested in research suggesting that altruistic and financial motives may often co-exist, even when there is financial inducement ( Kool et al, 2019 , Pennings et al, 2014 , Pennings, 2015 , Van den Broeck et al, 2013 ), and that introducing money does not automatically change the altruistic nature of donation ( Almeling and Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm. , 2011 , Gilman, 2018 ). This may mitigate some of the negative associations reported about donors who are paid.…”

Psychosocial aspects of identity-release gamete donation – perspectives of donors, recipients, and offspring

“…Also, in a large Finnish study of oocyte donors, one in four reported that the financial compensation had at least some influence on their decision to donate (13). In contrast, in a recent interview study including 24 oocyte and sperm donors in the UK, all rejected the idea that they had been financially motivated, and it was particularly important for sperm donors to frame their donation as a purely altruistic 'gift', as a financial motive was perceived to be incompatible with a beneficial potential relationship with offspring from their donation (16). Oocyte donors, on the other hand, were more comfortable to incorporate the fact that they received financial compensation in the narrative of their donation as a 'gift' to recipients longing for a child.…”

Should Surrogate Pregnancy Arrangements be Enforceable in Aotearoa New Zealand?

“…Importantly, the term 'relational' emphasises how people's sense of self is constructed in their relationships with others and in terms of their social roles. In relational gifting, the donor presents their donation as a personalised gift which symbolically connects them to their recipients (Gilman, 2018).…”