Egg donation is a process where a woman donates her eggs to someone else to use to create an embryo. The eggs can be fertilized by sperm from the father that will raise the child or by donor sperm. The resulting embryo can be transferred to the intended mother or to a surrogate. The egg donor can be a friend or relative of the intended parents or a compensated donor.
Who Should Use Donor Eggs?
Using donor eggs is often suggested for women who are not able to get pregnant using their own eggs due to age, premature ovarian failure or early menopause, or damaged ovaries. It might also be suggested for women who have unexplained infertility that have experienced repeated IVF failure or miscarriages. Single men and gay couples also use egg donation.
Should You Use an Egg Donor Agency, Your Infertility Clinic Egg Donation Program, or a Frozen Egg Bank?
How to find the “best” egg donor for you is a highly personal choice. Creating a Family has a chart comparing the three most common choices for choosing an egg donor: egg donation agency, infertility clinic egg donation programs, and frozen egg banks. We analyze and compare these options for the following factors:
- Number and variety of donors
- Success rate
- Geographic location of donor
- Typical number of eggs
- Timing
- Convenience
- Predictability
- Possibility of genetic siblings
- Future contact with donor
- Cost
Success Rate for Egg Donation
The Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology cites the national average success rate for fresh donor egg as 56.6% of fresh IVF transfers using donor eggs result in a live birth in 2012 (the last year data was available).
Cost of Using Donor Eggs
The cost varies considerably depending on how restrictive you are in choosing a donor (height, interests, intelligence, hair, and eye coloring, etc.), where you find your donor (agency, clinic, bank), whether you share an egg donation cycle, whether you use fresh or frozen eggs, and where you live. For egg donation agencies or egg donor programs at fertility clinics, prices range from $21,000-$45,000. For frozen egg banks, prices range from approximately $16,000-$18,000. Remember, in addition to the cost for the donor you need to add the cost of the embryo transfer.
Creating a Family has many resources on egg donation. Some we think you will find particularly helpful are:
- Why Should Donor-Conceived Families Be Publicly Embarrassed? (blog post)
- When to Choose Egg Donation (guest blog post)
- LGBTQ+ Parenting (Part 1): Surrogacy (1 hr. podcast w/ expert)
- Should You Use Fresh or Frozen Donor Eggs (1 hr. podcast w/ experts)
- Options in Egg Donation (1 hr. podcast w/ experts)
- Suggested Books for Kids Conceived Through Egg Donation
Many more Creating a Family radio interviews with experts, videos, blogs, fact sheets, and Q and A’s with Experts on using donor eggs can be found at the icons below.
Sources: Creating a Family radio shows listed below, www.sart.org
Image credit: Flavio~
Additional Resources
Creating a Family Radio Shows on Egg Donation
Creating a Family Blogs on Egg Donation
Creating a Family Factsheets, Tips on Egg Donation
Creating a Family Videos on Egg Donation
Expert Q and A's on Egg Donation