Justin Waters

Women will now be fairly compensated for donating their oocytes (eggs) for research purposes. On October 13, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom of California approved Assembly Bill 922 (AB-922). The bill passed with a unanimous vote in the Senate and a vote of 28 to 4 in the Assembly.

Prior to the passage of AB-922, California was one of only three states to prohibit payment to those who donate eggs. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine believes allowing fair compensation will improve reproductive research by increasing the availability of eggs and continue California’s status as a leader in biotechnology.

The bill requires research programs to submit their patients’ de-identified demographic and medical data to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office on or before January 16, 2023. The purpose of collecting such data appears to be for medical knowledge and to ensure compensation does not result in exploitation.

The bill was sponsored by California Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, a woman who has undergone egg harvesting four times for her own fertility treatments. She told the Los Angeles Times, “there’s very little data to show that this process has any detrimental effects.”

Allowing compensation benefits both the participants and the community because it allows women to be financially compensated for participating in research, and it improves the community by improving medical knowledge. Women have the bodily freedom to choose whether to participate in an egg-retrieval process, and it is ethically right that women who provide eggs for research are fairly compensated.

Justin Waters is the Legislative Director of the United States Transhumanist Party / Transhuman Party.