Donating Eggs for Money in New York

Women who can't produce enough of their own eggs sometimes turn to egg donors to help them conceive. Women can donate their eggs for money in New York. While the compensation for egg donation varies widely from one program to another, you may be able to make as much as $8,000 for a single egg production cycle in New York, or as much as $10,000 if your eggs are used for research.

Private Donation

• Fortunately, New York is one of the highest-paying cities for donor eggs, according to Fertility Nation. The Wall Street Journal reports that women in New York may receive between $3,000 and $8,000 for their eggs. However, some agencies in the state advertise much higher rates for donors who can meet a few, very specific characteristics. For instance, the WSJ noted that an ad in a New York college campus newspaper promised $25,000 for a "100 percent Jewish" donor "with high SAT scores, attractive, at healthy body weight and free of genetic diseases."

Influencing Factors

• Various factors can influence how much you can earn donating your eggs. For instance, women with graduate degrees from prestigious universities and lucrative careers may make more than someone with a bachelor's degree from a state school and no current job. In fact, egg donation clinics place such a premium on personal accomplishment that some have established exceptional egg donor programs, according to Fertility Nation. Additionally, women who have donated in the past and whose eggs have resulted in pregnancy tend to command higher pay.

Research Donation

• Previously, the National Academy of Science forbid paying women for donor eggs used in stem cell research. But the State of New York now pays $10,000 for eggs used for stem cell research, according to The New York Times. The Empire State Stem Cell Board announced the decision in June 2009, making New York the first state in the country to allow public money to be used for this.

Qualifications

• Few laws govern egg donation. However, the New York State Task Force on Health and Law explains what qualifications potential egg donors in the state must meet. They must be between 21 and 35 years of age in New York and free of communicable diseases. Beyond this, all other qualifications are set by individual egg donation programs.

Process

• You will typically be prescribed medication to halt your normal ovulation cycle, and then different medications to stimulate egg production, similar to the hormones your body already makes, but in much larger amounts, according to the New York State Department of Health's "Thinking of Becoming an Egg Donor" guidebook. You will have to inject yourself with these medications. Once you have produced enough eggs, you will be given a different injection to prepare your body for egg retrieval. That process is an outpatient procedure that involves a probe with a needle being inserted into the vagina. The process is not without risks, so make sure you understand them before entering an egg donation contract.