Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm by Rene Almeling Page B

$75 at the for-profit CryoCorp in 2002. Gametes Inc. has a two-tiered system, paying anonymous donors $65 and identity-release donors $100 per sample in 2006. But even these slight differences in rates combine with variation in how often men donate to create a wide range of earnings among sperm donors. Staffers encourage men to make weekly deposits (at least), but some donors choose to donate two or three times a week. It is very common for samples not to pass, though. So men who make $50 per sample and donate (and pass) one sample each week will make $200 in a month, and those who make $100 per sample and donate (and pass) three samples each week can make as much as $1,200 in that time.
    Inevitably, sperm banks trumpet the highest amount possible in their advertisements, but donors rarely achieved this level of income on a regular basis. Four men who were paid $50 per sample at Western Sperm Bank reported earning between $250 and $500 per month (average: $375). Seven identity-release donors who were paid $100 per sample at Gametes Inc. reported earning between $600 and $1,200 per month (average: $930). Moreover, an individual donor’s earnings could fluctuate quite a bit from month to month. For example, Victor, a twenty-three-year-old identity-release donor at Gametes Inc. referred to himself as a “full-time donor” because he makes three deposits each week. “Usually my samples make it. Sometimes I may have had a bad week, and two samples didn’t make it. So, I’m saying anywhere from $360 to $540 every two weeks.” Victor’s calculations are based on multiples of $90, because Gametes Inc. is the only program to withhold $10 from each passing sample as an incentive to the donor to show up for periodic blood tests. If the donor passes the tests, the accumulated money is disbursed.
    About half the women who lived in metropolitan areas applied to multiple programs, either to increase their chances of being chosen by a recipient or because they were rejected by the first program they contacted. Sperm donors were less likely to engage in this behavior both because there are fewer sperm banks and because of the more intensive time commitment. For example, Andrew, who was in graduate school,did look into another program that was about forty-five minutes away. That program paid $75 or $100 compared to the $45 he received when he first signed on with Western Sperm Bank, but he did not want donation “to be a huge time commitment. Western Sperm Bank is close to where I work, so I can stop in a couple times a week and work it around my work schedule.”
    Just as egg and sperm donors express similar motivations for donation, they spend the money on similar things. It is “special money,” in that it is earmarked for particular purposes; just 5% of the donors did not have a specific plan for it. 8 A few donors, including two divorced mothers of young children and four single men working multiple low-wage jobs, did use the money to cover basic living expenses. But most donors did not portray their financial situations in such dire terms. About half used at least some of the money to pay off debt, as did Dana.
The first time I had a retrieval, I was only paid $3,500, and I used it to pay off bills [ laughs ]. I’d gotten out of college and didn’t have anything, so I had to buy furniture, this and that, and I got it all on credit. So I just paid a lot of that off and then bought stuff for my house that I own now. Every other time since, I’ve gotten 5,000 [dollars]. [The second retrieval] was paying off some more bills and just kind of doing stuff around the house. [The third retrieval] was to pay off Disney World tickets [ laughs ] that I put on my credit card, and I bought a vehicle. I put a big down payment on an [SUV]. The [fourth retrieval], I paid off bills from my wedding [ laughs ]. So, I’ve really accomplished a lot with the money.
    Egg donors were more likely to use at least some of the money for school, either