How Much Should a Woman Be Paid for Her Eggs?

The terminology used to describe women who sell their eggs only makes things more complicated: The medical community doesn’t call them patients; it calls them donors. And egg-donation websites regularly describe the process as the priceless gift of family to a couple in need.  

But in nearly all cases, women aren’t gifting their eggs to anyone. They’re undergoing a medical procedure for which they will be compensated. It is, according to proponents of the existing system, a free-market exchange between a willing buyer and seller, not so different from buying and selling a house or a car. Donors, however, often express their personal motivations in a tangle of altruism and money—and the money has proven to be a point of contention among the women who sell their eggs and the people who determine how much they’re worth.

In a case expected to go to trial next year, a group of egg donors have filed a class-action lawsuit against the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, whose guidelines cap egg-donor payments at $10,000. This limit, the plaintiffs argue, constitutes...