A poll conducted by the Jamaica Observer has revealed a surprising willingness among readers to donate their eggs to help other women conceive or support their partner in the process, with 43 per cent of respondents stating they would donate if they were compensated at a good price.

The poll, conducted last week, followed last Sunday’s lead story that an egg donor drive conducted by Caribbean Fertility Centre in September saw hundreds of women turning out to donate their eggs. The egg drive was conducted to tackle the growing demand for Jamaican egg donors to help local women conceive.

A compensation of US$2,500 to US$3,000 was given to egg donors 20 to 30 years old who qualified.

The poll, conducted on the Jamaica Observer website and our

Instagram page received 1,324 responses from readers.

A total of 569 readers, or 43 per cent, said they would donate their eggs or support their partner donating eggs if they were compensated at a good rate.

At the same time, 302 respondents, or 23 per cent, said they would “not at all” donate eggs, with an additional 239 respondents, or 18 per cent stating that they could not imagine someone else parenting their child.

The remaining 214 respondents, or 16 per cent, said they might consider donating but were not quite sure.

The poll also generated discussion among readers who questioned the compensation per egg donation, stating that it was too low.

“US$2,500 to US$3,000 is a waste of time. Where is the rest of the money at? It’s worth over US$10,000,” said one Instagram user.

Another user responded, “I’m going overseas to sell mine because Jamaica is joking. US$2,500 for my premium egg? Hell no, my egg is worth way more than that.”

“There’s a girl on TikTok that showed her process of being an egg donor. The minimum they’re paying her is US$16,000! Being an egg donor is no walk in the park, you get paid well, so for them to offer Jamaican women $2,000 to $3000 is mockery!” said another user.

In response to questions about the compensation, Dr Sharifa Frederick, clinical director at Caribbean Fertility Centre, said that the process of getting a donor is very expensive, with blood tests costing $60,000 and medication $400,000.

“When we sell the eggs, we cannot sell [eggs] for the same cost that someone in the United States would sell [eggs] for because we just have to make it affordable. If we can’t sell it for a lot and we have to spend a lot to work up the donor, then the compensation has to be on par with all of this,” she explained.