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Five years ago, Alice Crisci froze her eggs, knowing she could be left infertile after chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

Now, cancer-free and 10 weeks pregnant, Crisci is a passionate donor advocate and a vocal critic of a California law that some say has stymied fertility research. That law prohibits women from being compensated for donating their eggs for medical research, despite payments to subjects in other human research studies.

Women can be compensated in cases where eggs are donated for fertility treatments, with industry guidelines suggesting payments of $5,000 to $10,000.

Few women voluntarily go through the invasive and time-consuming procedure without compensation, leading to a shortage of healthy oocytes, commonly called eggs, for research.

That could change under a recently introduced bill that would allow women to be compensated for their time, trouble and inconvenience when donating eggs for research.

"Getting this research back on track will benefit a great number of women," said Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, the bill's author.

Lori Arnold of the California Family Council has concerns, saying Bonilla's bill opens up "dangerous medical ground."...