There are many different circumstances where donor eggs would be used in treatment. In the last of our blog series about egg donation and IVF with donor eggs, we talk through known donation, egg-sharing and intra-partner egg-sharing between same-sex couples.
Known donation
Known donation is usually where a woman has asked a friend or relative to be her egg donor. In these instances, it’s different to that of anonymous donation because you know who the donor is. But the same rules still apply. Your donor must be willing to undergo the same health and medical screening as all egg donors and must complete all the legal paperwork in line with treatment through a licensed clinic, that makes you the legal parent of any child born.
Your egg donor will undergo testing for any infectious or contagious diseases, must know her own medical history and that of her immediate family, and must also undergo testing so we get a good understanding of her own fertility and likely response to ovarian stimulation. This is so we can ensure she is suitable to actually be an egg donor. As the potential recipient, you will pay the costs associated with your known donor’s screening and testing.
Both you and your donor, and respective partners, will also be required to attend counselling to ensure that you all understand the implications of egg donation and treatment. Potential issues include how you might explain to any child born its unique origins, and the involvement your known donor has in your child’s life.
At Manchester Fertility we have vast experience of helping couples or women who have found their own egg donor. If this applies to you, call us for an informal chat about the process and how you can both take it forward.
Egg-sharing
If you’re aged 18-35, you may be able to egg-share to get cheaper IVF treatment. To be an egg-sharer, you must meet the same criteria as altruistic egg donors. You must be in good health, with no serious medical conditions. You undergo ovarian stimulation and share half of the eggs collected equally with our highly-successful Manchesterdonors.com donor programme. You keep half for your own cycle of IVF treatment, which costs you a subsidised rate of £1,000. As an egg-sharer, you’re now an egg donor and this means you also need counselling to discuss the implications of being an egg donor.
Intra-partner egg sharing
If you’re a woman in a same-sex relationship and want to have a baby with your partner, you can also egg-share, even to one another. You can opt for one of you to be the egg donor and for one of you to actually carry the baby. This means that instead of having your eggs collected, fertilised by sperm from one of our donors and then the resulting embryo transferred back into you as in standard IVF, you can decide instead to transfer the embryo into your partner’s uterus. This means that she carries the baby throughout the pregnancy and gives birth, and that you are the egg donor to your partner.
You may decide on this option if, for example, you are younger than your partner and so have the better quality eggs due to your age, but you want your partner to experience carrying your baby and giving birth. There are legal implications however if you decide to take this option in terms of parentage, but you will see one of our experienced counsellors as part of your treatment – as you are using donor sperm and may be egg-sharing - where this will be discussed with you in full.
We have successfully helped many same-sex female couples have their families here at Manchester Fertility, so if you’d like to talk to us about your options please get in touch with our friendly team today.
Our Patient Advisors are on hand to answer any questions you may have about our treatments using donor eggs and our available egg donors. Call them directly on 0161 300 2737, request a call back at a convenient time or use our discreet Live Chat service during clinic hours via our Homepage.
Last updated: 20th January 2020
