Postmenopausal women and the right of access to oocyte donation

This paper raises the question of distributive justice in the allocation of donor oocytes. The shortage of oocytes has resulted in waiting lists of several years. The largest group of candidate recipients are postmenopausal women. Questions have been raised about their right to these scarce resources. The criteria that might be morally relevant in the allocation decision are divided according to the stage at which they are applied: either for the admission to the waiting list or for the ranking of those already on the waiting list. Five factors are analysed: success rates, fault, parental competence, medical urgency and waiting time. It is concluded that none of the relevant criteria justifies discrimination against postmenopausal women.