Last month egg donor, Ms. Lindsay Kamakahi filed an antitrust lawsuit against the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The lawsuit claims that their ethical guidelines regarding egg donor compensation is creating a price-fixing of the market which would be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The Center for Human Reproduction (CHR), who has one of the largest egg donation program in the United States was not named in the lawsuit, however, they released a formal statement regarding the issue today. They state that the statement is for clarification purposes, as there are many public misconceptions about compensation for egg donations.

First, they clarify that egg donors are not compensated for the eggs themselves, but for their time and efforts that goes into the donation process. “This distinction is crucial: just like it would be unethical and, likely, illegal to make payments for human organs (to be transplanted), so is it unethical, and, likely, illegal, to pay for eggs,” reads the press release statement.

Therefore, the lawsuit is not about price-fixing the price of human eggs, but of compensation and reimbursement efforts. The CHR also points out that there are similar compensation guidelines for organ and blood donors.