SAN DIEGO -- Over the past decade, egg donation programs have become mainstream. They offer an option for interfile couples, most of whom waited too long to have children. But with criteria like 1400 SAT scores, athletic build and beauty, some people worry the practice is turning babies into a commodity.

Advertisements are popping up in college newspapers across the country that offer $20,000 or more to young, attractive, healthy, smart women willing to donate their eggs. While infertile couples consider it their best chance for a child, others worry it is turning babies into a business.

Danny Jacques, 9, is the result of a gift of love. A woman donated an egg to his 42-year-old mother, Nancy Jacques, who was going through ovarian failure.

"The evaluation is that if I was going to conceive, I had a 1 percent chance with my own eggs," Jacques said.

She and her husband paid a young woman $1,000 for her eggs.

Nearly a decade later, eggs are a hot commodity that sometimes fetch staggering prices up to $50,000.

On Web sites, Ivy league students market themselves by touting impressive vital statistics along with 4.0 grade point averages and SAT scores of 1400.

Darlene Pinkerton runs the company, A Perfect Match.

"I've had some (women) who have made $40,000. The average first time donor for us, Ivy league school is $10,000," Pinkerton said.

Five years ago Pinkerton's agency helped four couples. This year, the client number is up to 200.

"My average client is 40 to 42 (years old), mostly professional women who have placed their career first and thought they'd be able to have children later in life," Pinkerton explained.

Pinkerton and her husband, attorney Thomas Pinkerton, entered the field after they were the in San Diego County to have a child by a surrogate mother. They considered compensating young women for their eggs a legal act of generosity.

"As the fee gets up over $10,000 it's hard to justify it as a donation. So, I don't have a problem saying the donors are selling their eggs," Thomas Pinkerton told 10News. "We have some donors who have donated three or four times and have basically paid their college loans off."

But the practice of high pay is not without critics, among them is Dr. Grace Janik, an infertility specialist.

"It's a wonderful thing to do. But you should do it for a sense of giving back, not to make $50,000, or whatever the highest market value you can do," Janik said.

Janik worries high compensation may prompt donors to lie about their health and lifestyle. She also takes issue with parents seeking exceptional beauty or high IQs.

"I have an ethical problem with designer babies, IQs, models. I have a problem with being too specific on eugenics," Janik said.

"We certainly didn't talk about a perfect baby -- a high-IQ baby. The emphasis was on a healthy baby," said Nancy Jacques.

Ron and Nancy Jacques admit they would have paid far more than $1,000 for their son, Danny. They told him last year exactly where he came from and he believes it shows just how much he was wanted.

"I think it's a great program and it made me exist. I like it," Danny Jacques said.

People from all over the world come to California for egg donations because the laws are favorable.

It is illegal to sell body tissue like hearts or kidneys, but there are exceptions for blood, plasma, hair, sperm, and eggs.

The process takes about two months, and involves injections and surgery for the donor.