SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The purpose of this act is to create protections for research subjects and it should not be construed to affect any other form of medical care.

(b) Scientific research can be most effectively achieved by establishing protocols to protect, respect, and promote human health, safety, dignity, autonomy, and rights in conducting research.

(c) This act seeks to support the requirements in current law upholding the principle of voluntary and informed consent and to tailor them to this new area of pioneering research that utilizes human oocytes.

(d) For all research subjects, there is a concern for exploitation when subjects are asked to subject themselves to drugs, devices, or procedures they might not otherwise need to do for their own health but for the benefit of all. This can range from persons with terminal illnesses who might be so desperate for help they would subject themselves to a high-risk procedure with limited benefit, to otherwise healthy people who might be motivated primarily by a financial award. To address this concern of exploitation, and to recognize the need for people to participate in research, mechanisms were created to balance the need to reward research participants without creating undue inducement.

(e) In California, the mechanisms dedicated to judging this balance include human subject research panels, institutional review boards, and stem cell research organizations.

(f) Concerns that women will be exploited if compensated for providing human oocytes for research have not borne out in the states where compensation is allowed.

(g) The current ban on compensation for women providing human oocytes for research was created due to concerns regarding the high volume of oocytes needed for embryonic stem cell research, but extends to all research. Without compensation, few women participate in research, creating barriers to reproductive research that could benefit all women. As an example, more research could be done on embryo quality so that women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) can confidently choose to have a single embryo implanted with a high probability of achieving a successful pregnancy, instead of multiple embryos. Lowering the rate of multiple pregnancies in IVF is a high priority goal that benefits women, parents, the resulting children, and society. The best source of available embryos for research comes from embryos created for fertility using a compensated donor, as she is more likely to produce a higher volume of oocytes and excess viable embryos than the infertile woman. Due to the ban on compensation, oocytes and embryos not needed for fertility will be unsuitable for research and will likely be discarded.

(h) All patients, including those participating in research are due a reasonable duty of care. In addition, all women undergoing ovarian stimulation and oocyte retrieval have another layer of regulation as all cycles are reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(i) Sufficient protections are in place to treat women providing human oocytes for research, similar to any other research subject, knowing women are competent and able to make decisions for themselves.

(j) This bill will reverse the current ban on compensation for women providing human oocytes for research. Compensation amounts will be determined by human subject research panels and institutional review boards.