In April 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Legislature, under the urging of Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, authorized the creation of the Empire State Stem Cell Board (ESSCB). The ESSCB received $100 million in its first year of operation and the promise of $50 million more per year for the subsequent ten years. The purpose of this eleven year $600 million investment was to fund stem cell research.

During the ESSCB’s initial two years of operation, pro-life advocates were pleased that funding appeared to be steered exclusively toward adult stem cell research applications and infrastructure, not embryonic stem cell research. But in June 2009, that changed when the ESSCB authorized payments of up to $10,000 to women who allow researchers to harvest their eggs for experimental purposes. Researchers are looking for human eggs (also known as oocytes) in order to clone human embryos, embryos which will later be destroyed for their stem cells.

Payments are authorized not only for actual expenses involved, but also for time, burden and discomfort. Current New York State Public Health Law (Section 4307) prohibits the sale and purchase of human organs, but the law does not include eggs in the definition of "human organ." It is this loophole in current law that allows reimbursement to women for their time, burden and discomfort in donating eggs for scientific research.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms Senior Lobbyist, Rev. Duane Motley, said, "In regard to embryonic stem cell research, we were waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it did – in a big, and very bad way."

New York State is the first governmental agency to offer donor compensation and is operating against the ethical recommendations of the National Institute of Health (NIH). The NIH does not permit federal dollars to be spent on stem cell research that uses embryos derived from procedures that require women to donate eggs, due to the health and ethical implications, including the health risk to the women who donates.¹

The National Academies of Sciences (NAS) also recognizes this moral dilemma. The NAS finds, "It is most problematic in the case of oocyte donation solely for research purposes, because the invasiveness and risks of the procedure suggest that financial remuneration is most deserved, but at the same time there is a greater likelihood of enticing potential donors to do something that poses some risk to themselves."² Therefore, the NAS guidelines state, "No payments, cash or in kind, should be provided for donating oocytes for research purposes."³

Feminists Choosing Life of New York (FCLNY) responded to the ESSCB’s initiative with legal action by filing a petition against New York State. In part, the complaint states, "The Payment for Eggs Program provides significant monetary inducements to women to engage in this painful and risky procedure, which in part disproportionately appeals to economically vulnerable women."

In this difficult economy, some women’s advocates are concerned that the temptation of a $10,000 payment is simply too much to resist for some women. They are concerned that the payments will induce low-income and college-age women to sacrifice their long-term health and safety for a short-term financial gain.

On November 25, 2009, FCLNY’s attorneys filed an amended petition (available at http://www.feministschoosinglife.org). The amended petition included affidavits from two expert witnesses including Dr. Maureen Condic, Ph.D. and Jennifer Lahl. Condic is a researcher and associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah. Lahl is National Director and Founder of The Center for Bioethics and Culture, as well as producer of the documentary, "The Lines that Divide."

Egg stimulation and extraction carries significant health risks, including, but not limited to, ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, clotting disorders, kidney damage, ovarian twisting, pulmonary embolism, damage to future reproductive ability, and stroke. FLCNY’s legal brief asserts that the egg compensation program "fails to satisfactorily provide for informed consent and other safeguards to ensure adequate disclosure to women of the risks of egg harvesting."

FCLNY Executive Director, Wendy McVeigh stated, "New York State has the responsibility to protect women.  Instead, the state is using taxpayers’ dollars to entice young, economically vulnerable women to experiment in this medically risky procedure."

FCLNY also argues that research on adult stem cells, which are plentiful and don’t involve the ethical and medical concerns of embryonic stem cell research, have produced positive results that make the egg donation program funded by taxpayer monies excessive spending.

A recent Empire Center report entitled "Blueprint for a Better Budget"⁴ concurs with and bolsters FCLNY’s fiscal view of embryonic stem cell research. In the report, the Empire Center asserts:

The ESSCB has not actually funded studies that plan to retrieve oocytes for use in stem cell research yet, but that could change very shortly. The conservative lobbying organization, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, is advocating for the removal of ESSCB funding from the New York State Budget on the grounds that it is both morally and fiscally irresponsible. If the New York State Legislature and the Governor can agree to defund the ESSCB, it will effectively end taxpayer funding for egg donation.

FLCNY President Kelly Brunacini said, "Considering that egg extraction is a painful, dangerous and difficult procedure and there is no quality, long-term safety data on the egg donation procedure, I am shocked and disheartened that Feminists Choosing Life of New York is alone in our outrage at the Stem Cell Board’s decision.  Where is the National Organization of Women? Where is Planned Parenthood?  The silence from New York’s women’s organizations is deafening.  This decision is a real threat to the health and well being of the women who are enticed with large sums of money to donate their precious eggs for unsubstantiated research."