Fertility clinic raffles donor eggs

A fertility clinic in London is raffling a human egg for older women who are desperate to become a mum.

The clinic has organised the raffle to promote its new "baby profiling" service, which will allow the winner to pick the egg donor based on their ethnic background, upbringing and education.

While payment for such services is illegal in Britain, the clinic has arranged for another centre in the United States to provide the IVF treatment to the raffle winner.

The raffle will be held on Wednesday, The Sunday Times reported.

The London-based Bridge Centre teamed up with the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia in 2009 to allow women in their 40s and 50s access to fertility treatment with donor eggs.

So far, few British women have been treated but the Bridge Centre hopes numbers will rise to 25 or more a month.

Each of the eggs are provided by American donors who are aged between 19 and 32, are non-smokers, not overweight and have university degrees.

Lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics has condemned the sale of donor eggs.

"These women selling their eggs are taking a huge risk with their health and fertility simply because they need the money," she told the newspaper.

- AAP