Compensation for South African Egg Donors now R8000

Why egg donations are required

There is a legitimate need for donor eggs, not only in South Africa, but around the world.

There are thousands of couples desperately waiting for donated eggs, which will allow them to have their own baby. It may be that these women simply don’t have enough eggs, or that they have eggs of poor quality, or perhaps their eggs may carry a certain genetic disorder.

A donation of healthy eggs completely changes the lives of these couples and brings endless joy.

What an egg donation involves

To bring this joy to another, egg donors really do go the extra mile. Unlike donating blood or sperm, which takes a half an hour or so, or donating an hour of your time at a soup kitchen, donating eggs requires more time and involvement.

If you donate at Cape Fertility, you will go through our streamlined process, refined over many decades of working with egg donors.

The egg donation process at Cape Fertility begins with completing a confidential medical questionnaire. If the questionnaire confirms your suitability to donate eggs, an Egg Donor Profile, which is anonymous and confidential, is compiled for you.

Once a couple requiring an egg donation selects your profile, you will attend a 2-hour appointment with one of Cape Fertility’s specialists as well as our psychologist, who will explain the full egg donation procedure, answer all your questions and discuss any concerns you may have. During your appointment, you will also have a detailed medical examination, including routine investigations and a psychological assessment.

The actual egg donation cycle starts with 10-12 days of fertility injections, which encourages more than one of your eggs to reach maturity. During this two-week period you will also attend about four doctor’s appointments for regular ultrasounds to check the development of the eggs. This is to make sure that you are responding well to the medication.

The eggs are then retrieved by our fertility specialists using non-invasive surgery, which means no cutting, stitches or scarring. On egg retrieval day, you will need to take a full day off work or your daily activities. While you are sleeping under a mild general anaesthetic, and without experiencing any pain, the 30-minute procedure is completed. We then keep you in recovery for about 1 hour after the procedure, to ensure everything is fine before you are taken home.

What egg donor compensation is allowed in South Africa?

Clearly, donating eggs require more time and involvement than, for example, donating blood or sperm, or volunteering for an hour or two.

For this reason, it is certainly right and fair that donors are compensated for giving a considerable amount of time and effort, and to cover any expenses they may incur in making this substantial donation.

Understandably, this compensation is sometimes perceived as a “payment” for eggs, but it is not true. The truth is that international law prohibits payment for any live human matter, including human eggs and sperm. Similarly, South African law prohibits the payment, offer of payment, or advertising of payment for eggs, sperm, embryos, or surrogacy services within South Africa.

While no money can be paid for eggs, eggs can be donated – like sperm or blood. Egg donation is legal and widely practiced in South Africa, governed by strict national laws and international best practice.

Just like you don’t get paid for donating blood or donating clothes to a charity, you also don’t get paid for donating eggs. However, in the case of egg donation, donors can be reimbursed or compensated for their time and effort.

By law, egg donors in South Africa can be compensated for reasonable expenses – such as travel expenses for getting to and from the clinic for the various appointments, medications, consultations, examinations, blood tests and for the procedure on egg donation day, all of which require time, effort and commitment from the donor. As such, the same compensation is paid to all donors, regardless and irrespective of how many eggs are donated.

The compensation paid recognises that egg donors – the selfless women who are willing to donate their eggs to help another woman become a mother – go above and beyond what the average person is willing to give. The compensation ensures that the process of donating does not cost more than you are already giving.

Currently, the maximum permissible compensation allowable in South Africa under the National Guidelines from the South African Society for Reproductive Medicine (SASREG), is R8000 per donation cycle. It recently increased from R7000 per donation cycle.

How to make your egg donation safely and without any costs

The best way to ensure you make your egg donation safely is to donate at a reputable, certified and registered fertility clinic with an excellent track record. Visit the South African Society of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endoscopy (SASREG) at sasreg.co.za for a list of accredited clinics.

Cape Fertility, one of the largest and most reputable fertility clinics in South Africa, is a SAREG accredited clinic, where you will be cared for by specialist fertility doctors and nurses, who have been looking after egg donors for many years and have safely completed thousands of previous treatments. The medical safety of our egg donors during the procedure is our primary concern.

In addition, when you are making a considerable donation such as an egg donation, we believe that there should be no cost to you – you are already giving so generously!

This is why at Cape Fertility, we make sure your donation does not involve any costs to you. Even if you do not live in Cape Town, don’t worry… when you are selected to donate, we will arrange for you to travel to Cape Town, at no charge to yourself!

If you donate eggs at Cape Fertility, you will also receive the maximum permissible compensation allowable in South Africa under the National Guidelines from the South African Society for Reproductive Medicine (SASREG), currently R8000 per donation cycle.

This maximum compensation is paid by us, directly to you, on the day of and after your egg donation. Should you decide to donate again, this compensation is paid to you for every egg donation cycle.

To find out more, simply fill in your contact details here, or contact our Egg Donor Fairy God Mother, Linda, on 072 698 7919 or linda@capefertility.co.za. Your information is 100% confidential and will under no circumstances be made available to anybody else.