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It’s a complex, emotionally-loaded question: What kinds of women sell eggs to infertile couples in California?

For Carol Hogan of the California Catholic Conference, the answer is simple.

“Six-foot blondes with 4.0 GPA’s,” she says. But Hogan has a different picture of the women who might get paid to provide their eggs if Gov. Brown signs legislation to lift the ban on such compensation for research, as opposed to fertilization.

“Our concern is that this will be used as a recruiting tool for women who are desperately poor,” Hogan said, adding that, “there are no long-term studies about the repercussions of egg donation.”

The bill, AB 926 by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would remove California's prohibition barring compensation for eggs donated for research purposes. The bill passed the Senate last week, 54-20, with only one Republican in favor and no Democrats against, after clearing the assembly in a similarly partisan vote two months ago.

It is major legislation that has received relatively little news coverage, but the debate on the issue has sparked an unusual lineup of partisans on both...