For many women, having a child is the most important thing in their lives. However, this option is not available to every woman or situation. Many factors prevent women from using their eggs to conceive, making egg donations important. Women can become mothers through egg donation, which is donating eggs to another woman or couple so that they can conceive. It offers women the chance to have biological children.

As more women realize the benefits of egg donation, conversations about third-party reproduction and egg donation grow. Women want to know the risks associated with egg donation. Many are interested in finding out what type of egg donation arrangements are available and which one works best. When you understand IVF terminology, IVF treatment options, and egg donation arrangements, you can put these concerns to rest and focus on choosing the right arrangements for you.

Terminology

Assisted reproduction third parties use some basic terminologies. Here are a few terms that you might hear.

Donor: A woman who donates her eggs to assist in reproductive or biomedical research in order to help another woman conceive is known as a donor.

Gametes: These are the reproductive cells of an organism. Ovates or egg cells are the female gametes, while sperms are the male gametes.

Donor-Conceived Child: A donor-conceived person is born from the donation of either sperm (sperms donation) or eggs (eggs donation), or both (either from two separate donors or from a couple).

Gestational Carrier: This happens when a woman gets pregnant through assisted reproductive technology and delivers a child on behalf of the intended parent(s).

Intended Parent: As fertility treatments cannot guarantee a live birth, couples or individuals attempting to conceive are known as intended parents.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) Process

In vitro fertilization, also called IVF, is a medical procedure that helps couples have a baby. It involves the processing of the eggs and sperm of the donors in a laboratory. The process includes essential IVF treatment, which consists of:

• Medications
• Injections
• Monitoring of the ovaries and reproductive organs
• Removal of fluid from the uterus
• Fertilization
• Processing of the embryo.

The IVF allows a woman to get pregnant via artificial insemination in a laboratory. A typical IVF cycle comprises the following stages:

1. A nasal spray or daily injection interrupts a woman's natural menstrual cycle (depending on protocol)

2. An injection of fertility hormones stimulates the ovaries to produce more eggs than usual.

3. An ultrasound-guided fine needle is used to collect mature eggs under light sedation or anaesthesia

4. Fertilization occurs in a laboratory with sperm from the male donor and an egg from the female donor.

5. It takes a few days for fertilized eggs (embryos) to grow in an incubator.

6. A healthy embryo is transferred into a woman's uterus.

7. Upon successfully implanting an embryo, a woman becomes pregnant.

The remaining embryos can be frozen and stored for future use.

Types of Arrangements

Choosing the right type of third-party reproduction technology is essential. Start by determining which type of donor arrangement suits you best: anonymous, semi-open, or open. This applies to donations of either sperm, eggs, or embryos. Both you and the donor should choose arrangements based on your best interests and the intended parent and their children.

Open Arrangement

The egg donor and intended parents agree to share their identities in an open arrangement. The information can include names and addresses. The parties can also communicate and maintain a relationship throughout the child's life. The donors can review the applications of intended parents before deciding on a course of action, and intended parents can speak to donors by phone or meet in person if they agree. An open arrangement can benefit both the egg donor and the intended parents and any future children born from the placement.

Semi-Open Arrangement

A semi-open arrangement straddles the line between anonymous and open donation. Unlike anonymous arrangements, egg donors and intended parents have access to each other's personal information. Name, location, etc., are examples of this information. A semi-open arrangement may be a better choice if you would like the option of staying in touch with the intended parents in the future. Establishing and maintaining a relationship with the intended parents will be easier if you both know basic information about one another. The best part of a semi-open arrangement is its flexibility. Intended parents and egg donors are free to keep in touch if they wish. Also, you don't have to decide right away.

Anonymous Arrangement

Most egg donors opt for an anonymous arrangement. This arrangement ensures that neither you nor the parents receiving your eggs will have any information about the other. As a result, you will not have direct contact with each other during the egg donor process. There is a third party that handles all communication. Following a donation process, intended parents and egg donors usually have no contact. The anonymity of donation is usually the most comfortable option for intended parents as well as egg donors.

Types of Donors

Known Donor

Known donors may be acquaintances, co-workers, friends, or relatives. It is possible to request help from a known donor who knows about your plight and that you need a sperm, egg, or embryo. Using a known donor has certain advantages, but there are many potential drawbacks as well. It is common for fertility clinics to be extremely cautious when providing a known donor. Disclosing a known donor requires legal documentation and psychological counseling results.

Potential advantages

Looking at profiles can give you a sense of a donor's character. However, a profile description cannot tell you much about a person. Knowing the donor will give you more confidence in knowing who will provide the genetics for your child. As a result, you are more familiar with the donor. Other benefits of known donors include:

• A known donor is less expensive. Legal and medical expenses need to be covered only.
• You and the donor may become closer as a result of the experience. Often, donating can be an emotional and draining experience, especially when the donor cares deeply about the family attempting to have a baby. During the fertility treatments and then, as you carry the baby to term, you could develop a strong relationship with your donor.
• As a family member donates, the intended parent can have a genetic relationship with the child in the absence of their own gametes. As one example, a brother might offer to provide sperm for his sister's partner.
• Maintaining a family connection can yield positive results.
• There could also be an ongoing relationship between the donor and the donor-conceived child. Research has found that children conceived through donation wonder about their parents. Even if they are close with their parents, wondering about their genetic heritage is natural.
• Children can be closer to their donor parents or at least able to keep tabs on them.

Potential Disadvantages

In a known donor agreement, it should be clear who are the children's parents and that the donor relinquishes all parental rights. However, there are no guarantee disputes will not occur. Parenting decisions could lead to future conflict.

• A donor may not agree with the parenting style of the intended parents as the child grows up. Conflict may arise between donor and recipient, but the ethical thing to do is to disagree and not interfere.
• It is more likely that an intended parent and the donor will have legal disagreements. Even with contracts prior to donation, legal problems can still arise. In some cases, intended parents have filed a lawsuit for child support from sperm donors, despite a contract stating the donors are not financially responsible.
• Donors may feel pressured into agreeing to the donations. People may feel guilty about turning down donations for family members or close friends they care about.
• If the fertility treatments fail, the donor could feel guilty or take responsibility. Fertility treatment gives you a chance to conceive, but it does not guarantee it.
• Poor experiences with donors can harm your relationship with them. Sometimes, being a donor can bring people together, while it can drive them apart in others.

Anonymous Donor

When a donation is anonymous, no personal information will be shared between the donor and intended parents, and they will not meet. Donors cannot contact the donor-conceived children and intended parents, nor can the intended parent contact donors. In decades past, when the concept of third-party reproduction was still relatively new, complete anonymity seemed ideal for all parties.

The following are reasons why people choose anonymous donors:

Donors face less risk. The donor is not liable for paying child support later. It has long been a worry for some donors that one day a child may show up at their door and expect them to be their parents. This is not what they envisioned when donating their organs.

A lower risk for intended parents. Parents fear that if their children have access to their donor, they might choose their donor.

Less shame. Some intended fathers feel shame when they cannot have children on their own, especially when using sperm donation.

Lack of care and attention to donor-conceived children. There was no consideration given to the interest of children in third-party reproduction. The interested parties thought it best to keep donor-conceived children's true origins a secret. There was no full understanding and appreciation of the complex psychology of children.

Several reasons have emerged why complete anonymity is not ideal over time.

• Most donor-conceived children want to know about their origins.
• Some parents long to stay in touch with the person who contributed to their ability to have children.
• A donor sometimes wonders what sort of family they helped create.
• These problems can be avoided by semi-open or open arrangements.

Potential Disadvantages:

As hard as the donors, intended parents, and the agencies try to keep the identities of all parties secret, technology has made it easy to unseal identities. Below are a few ways.

• DNA services have made it possible for anyone to have their saliva tested by a lab and learn if they have a genetic relationship with their family.
• Mail-in genetic tests can reveal the truth about identities.
• Donor-conceived children may locate their donors if they have also used a genetic service.
• Website created to help relatives of donor-conceived children locate their biological relatives.
• Future legislation may mandate that fertility clinics and agencies share donor information with donor-conceived children retroactively.

5 Reasons for openly and anonymously egg donation

Egg donors provide a gift that is essential to the process. Your contribution is so crucial that none of this would be possible without you. Here are five reasons to consider egg donation openly or anonymously.

1. Give life to someone. It's a life-changing opportunity for you and those you help. Most times, they would not have this option without your gift.

2. An honorable tribute. Watching a close friend or member of their family go through infertility motivates many people to donate eggs. A woman's chance of producing healthy eggs is often slim or none following cancer treatments. A donation of your eggs to a couple in need, for whatever reason, could serve as a living memorial to someone who has suffered from infertility.

3. A monetary reward. There has been an explosion of interest in donating eggs. This industry is mostly unregulated, and as with any consumer-driven business, most in-demand donors command the highest prices. Simply, selling one's eggs is a lucrative business for attractive, educated young women.

4. Currently, you do not use them. Right now, you may not be ready to start a family or add to your existing one. Consequently, every month you ovulate an egg that is not fertilized. Many couples have a strong desire to create or expand their family. However, they do not have viable eggs. By donating your eggs for fertilization, you are helping couples create children they can love as their own.

5. It's fast. As soon as an intended parent(s) chooses your profile, it takes approximately three months to perform the procedure, and you are back to normal after visiting a few doctors, taking a few medications, and undergoing a quick procedure.

Takeaway

Deciding to build your family through third-party reproduction can be an emotional one. Take into consideration the type of relationship that may be beneficial for you and your child. Additionally, it would be beneficial if you took into consideration the experiences of the donor and the donor's own children.

There is no right answer or wrong answer. If you are considering donor conception, consult with a therapist for guidance, preferably someone who has experience with donor conception. You can then feel confident that the decision you made for your family was the right one based on the information you had when you made it.