Which Comes First, the Sperm or the Egg?

by ScienceDave | May 27, 2007 at 08:26 am

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Ask yourself this question before reading on. What is worth more to you: the sperm or the egg?

To the fertility industry, you might be surprised to find how sperm donors are treated compared to their egg donor counterparts. PhD candidate Rene Almeling from UCLA set out to explain this discrepancy.

She figured that any discrepancies in compensation rates for the building blocks of assisted reproduction could be explained by either market forces or the biological differences between female egg donors, who must undergo hormone therapy and outpatient surgery, and their male counterparts, who, as one recruitment ad put it, “get paid to do what you already do.”

Was this the case? Surprisingly, it was not.

”From compensation rates to the smallest details of donor relations, sperm donors are less valued than egg donors,” Almeling said. “Egg donors are treated like gold, while sperm donors are perceived as a dime a dozen.”

Almeling's work, consisting of interviews with 25 staff at donation agencies, sheds light on a fairly disparate double standard among egg and sperm donors. Even more shocking was that this double standard ran far beyond monetary compensation, but the general attitude towards and treatment of donors.

Almeling found that it is not unusual for egg donors in large cities to make upwards of $5,000 per donation, no matter the outcome. Agencies also encourage recipient couples to provide female donors with thank-you notes, small tokens of appreciation and even cash bonuses.

In contrast, sperm banks do not pay as well or encourage such displays of gratitude. Male donors make between $50 and $75 per donation, and they are paid only when their samples meet the high fertility standards required for freezing. Over the length of their contracts, generally, an entire year, sperm donors may make as much as their female counterparts do over the course of a single six-week cycle, but only if they donate more than the required one sample per week. Invariably, however, earnings of sperm donors fell short, either because donors missed weekly sessions or their samples failed to meet fertility standards. Women also may donate as many as three times in a year, and their fees increase with each completed cycle.

So an egg donor actually stands to make far more during the same period of time than even the most diligent and fertile sperm donor.

Moreover, men work much longer for their pay than women, and their activities are much more restricted as a result. In addition to requiring weekly donations for a year, sperm banks instruct men to refrain from sex for two days prior to donation or risk the possibility that their samples will fail to meet fertility standards. Being sick or stressed also has a negative effect on sperm count.

So, in order to make $5000, a sperm donor would need to successfully donate 100 times in a year at $50 a viable sample. Asssuming 10% are viable samples (see original article), one would need to organize their lives in order to donate 1000 times in a year. Twenty times a week! Assuming the maximum number of donations a week is 7, that would mean a sperm donor would have to donate every chance they could for 3-4 years. That also means remaining celibate for 3-4 years, if they want to increase their chance of being paid.

And the mental environment of each donor upon donating?

”Staff at egg agencies constantly thank women and encourage them to think about what a wonderful difference they’re making in the lives of recipients,” Almeling said. “The sperm bank staff is appreciative, but men aren’t told how amazing they are and what a great gift they’re giving. They’re treated more like reproductive service workers. They come in. They clock in and out. Their sample is checked for quality. And they’re only paid when they produce an acceptable sample.”

Is this true? I cracked my fingers, put on my citizen-journalist fedora and headed to Google town. I typed in either “egg” or “sperm” donor, and began clicking.

Decide for yourself. After reading a number of websites, I’ve presented what I feel is a fair representation of each (given any inherent bias using Google)

Round 1 - Egg Donors Wanted
CCRM – Front page, “The most wonderful gift ever”, inlayed into a photo of a mother and child holding hands.
Upon further investigation, “Couples receiving the donated eggs are forever grateful to their donor for this gift of life! Without the egg donor program these women would not have had the ability to become pregnant and deliver their own baby.”
And, “Donating eggs is a very caring and generous act a woman can give another woman in spite of some risks and discomfort. Those couples who receive the eggs feel deep gratitude and respect for the gift the donor gave so willingly. It is only through gifts such as these that many couples can realize their dream of having children.”

The Egg Donor Program – “We call our donors "Angels" because we realize that they are truly a blessing to our Recipient Parents. Your willingness to share your gift with those desiring to start a family is amazing and we thank you for considering the Egg Donor Program.”

Round 2 – Sperm Donors Wanted
I honestly had a difficult time finding anything as “altruistic” as in the egg-donor-wanted sites. If anything was present, it went along the lines of, “There are countless couples without children who are unable to obtain the requested donor due to the lack of acceptable donors. Therefore, we are actively seeking new donors to add to our program.”

Sounds more like a “come one come all, if you can donate please do!” call for donors than a pluck at the heart-strings.

One click away, and I stumbled across the testimonials of Cryobank donors. After reading the first few, I realized there were a few key themes (in descending order) present in almost all of them: monetary gains (often after a college degree), low time commitment, there being no need for embarrassment, and lastly the friendly service. Not once was the actualization of fathering a child mentioned, nor the selflessness of helping unfortunate men in other would-be families.

What about Egg donor testimonials? I found this.
Included were phrases such as, “New hope for a childless couple” and, “A mother shares the joy”. And the actual testimonials? It can be summed up in what one donor said, “It's such a neat feeling to know I have helped to give new hope to a childless couple.”

I think the double standard Almeling proposes in the fertility industry is quite apparent.

Now, I understand the extraction procedure for egg donors is inherently more risky since it involves surgery (whereas sperm donation is fairly straight forward). Could this be the reason for the far-ranging treatment of donors?

”While an individual woman has fewer eggs than an individual man has sperm, women never run the risk of “running out” of eggs due to donating. Moreover, the huge oversupply of women willing to be donors means that eggs are not actually scarce for couples seeing to acquire them.

Cultural norms of parenthood, which are perpetuated though marketing efforts, interact with these biological understandings to produce the differences in market prices, Almeling believes.

What do I think about donating sperm? Could I? Would I? I'm a college
student. I need the money. I thought about the last bit above, and was amazed that my initial feeling was one of being relatively apathetic about the notion of fathering an anonymous child when presented with the supposed monetary gain. Is this how many potential sperm-donors feel? And egg donors? I encourage all interested NowPublic members to comment.

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Kuwait

at 09:30 on May 27th, 2007

When sperms and egg are kept withen the marriage bounderies, both are equally valuable.

Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:34 on May 27th, 2007

nouseforadave, excellent work here. Maxim-type jokes aside, donating sperm, just like giving up an egg, can result in parenthood, though you will never meet the child. So, ten years from now, you may be walking home from the grocery store and see a little girl with your eyes. The implications for both forms of donation are the same. Good stuff.