Bioeconomies of Egg Provision in the United States and Spain: Comparing Medical Markets and Implications for Donor Care

Abstract

Regulatory systems governing third party reproduction determine how people providing reproductive materials and labor –including eggs, sperm, and gestational surrogacy services –are selected and compensated. The United States and Spain have very different regulations surrounding third party reproduction, but are both global leaders in providing fertility treatment with donor eggs. We examine how two key differences between these systems –how donors are selected and compensated– influence the broader market in human eggs and the implications for women who provide them. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork in the United States and Spain, this paper compares how compensated egg donation operates under a regulated public/private system (Spain) and the unregulated US free market medical system. Here we explore how different reproductive bioeconomies influence the bioavailability of some women over others in the human egg market. Finally, we posit that advances in egg freezing technologies –and the rise of egg banking– may further drive consumer culture fertility care in both locations.