A plan to bring fertile young women to Australia on an all-expenses-paid trip to donate their eggs could be entering murky legal ground.
The head of Macquarie University's health law department, Associate Professor Sonia Allan, told SBS News there were laws in Australia that prevented egg donors from receiving any form of payment or "material benefit" for their donation.
The concerns follow the that South African egg donors coming to Australia are having their airfares and their living expenses covered while they are in the country for the egg harvesting procedure.
Related reading
IVF provider says treatments on the rise
"In Queensland, where this is apparently about to take place, the law states that any form of payment, reward or other material benefit or advantage for human eggs is prohibited," she said.
"The law does not prohibit the payment of the individual’s reasonable expenses in connection with the donation.
"One could argue that the girls are gaining 'material benefit' or 'advantage' by having an 'all expenses paid' international holiday, and so arguably this would be against the law.
"The cost of such a trip would not seem to be 'reasonable' expenses."
The women are being brought to Australia from South Africa by a new donor agency called Known Egg Donors.
"It is very problematic that people are literally being 'sold' the idea that this is a reasonable way to form a family."
The eggs they donate will go to Australian couples who are using IVF treatment to have a baby.
The couples will pay $13,600 for the donation as well as the costs associated with their IVF cycle treatment.
Known Egg Donors founder, Genevieve Uys, who has donated her eggs twice in Brisbane, told SBS News the trip was hardly a holiday for the egg donors who would have to undergo medical tests and procedures and inject themselves with hormones every day.
"They're there to help people, they're not there to have a vacation," she said.
Miss Uys said the organisation was aware of the laws relating to egg donors in Queensland and did not believe the arrangement would breach them.
She said covering the flights and accommodation costs for the egg donors was no different to a couple doing the same thing for a donating friend or family member.
"It's been done all over the world, it's nothing new, it's just something new for Australia," Miss Uys said.
Miss Uys said she had first become aware of the need for egg donors after watching her cousin struggle with infertility and IVF.
Associate Professor Allan said the donation trip was "yet another example of how much some people in the IVF industry are driven by profit".
"The point must not be missed that the agency is making a lot of money - that is why they come up with these 'schemes'," she said.
"They are flying women across international borders to access their eggs, in order to make money."
She said there were also concerns with the way the process was being marketed to prospective parents.
A scientist at work during an IVF process. Source: AAP
"It is very problematic that people are literally being 'sold' the idea that this is a reasonable way to form a family," she said.
"Once you open the door to such trade, yes, there are problems. People desperate to have a baby are charged huge amounts of money to access treatments that have relatively unknown 'success' rates.
"They're there to help people, they're not there to have a vacation."
"Young girls are transported across borders so that their eggs can be procured. The people profiting most are the agents, the industry."
However, Ms Uys said some of the couples who will receive eggs from the donors were intending to travel to countries like the US where the costs associated with the treatments were much higher.
She said by comparison the cost for the procedure in Brisbane was "relatively cheap" and the process was allowing couples the chance to have a child when everything else had failed.
"Donating is a very personal decision," she said.
"Some people really don't understand what it's all about - there is something about recognising the struggle of another female trying to have a child and thinking 'If that were me I hope someone would do the same thing for me'."
Miss Uys confirmed the egg donors were coming to Brisbane, but declined to give any more details to protect their privacy.
Australia, like most countries, prohibits commercial payments for egg donations and are quite "liberal in terms of access to treatment, and the types of treatments available compared to many parts of the world", Associate Professor Allan said.
"We are advancing in the recognition of the rights of children born as a result of such technology to information about their conception and birth, and about donors," she said.
"We sit with the majority of the world in prohibiting commercial payments for donations. I would say that that is ethical, human rights focused, not strict."
Related reading
Comment: Your questions answered on donor conception and IVF
