Egg donation

Details the counseling that all prospective egg donors may take.

By Dr. Marcus | Last Updated June 14, 2023 2:14 PM GMT

Counseling of prospective egg donors

Prospective donors must be counseled.

All prospective donors should be offered adequate counseling, but they are not obliged to accept it. The donor should be comfortable with her decision and in donating their eggs they must renounce all right to them. In the cases of known donors, related issues such as the potential impact of the relationship between the donor and recipient should be explored. Several points are worth considering and may be discussed in counseling sessions.

The woman who gave birth to the child is the mother of the child (HFEA Act) and the husband or partner is the father of the child.
There is an evolving movement towards non-anonymous donation. Several countries now only accept identifiable donors; therby, a child born as a result of egg donation has the right to obtain non-identifiable information about the donor at age 18 years or earlier if contemplating marriage.
In the UK, children born as a result of donation are able to access information about the identity of their donor at the age of 18.
The donor should be informed of the social, psychological and legal uncertainty and the risk that a birth may not occur.
The egg donor must accept that she may have a genetic offspring(s) whose existence or characteristics will not be disclosed.
Egg donor should feel free to withdraw from the program at any time without the threat of financial penalty or fear of recrimination up until the embryo created from her eggs are replaced.
The possibility of abandoning the cycle because of poor response to the fertility drugs, and side effects of medication. The donor should also be aware of the potential risks of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and egg collection.
In the United Kingdom, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is required by law to keep on its own register information about individuals who donate eggs and patients who receive donated eggs.
Some potential egg donors ask how many times I can donate. In the United Kingdom, the law state that no more than 10 families should be born from any one donor.