Embryo Donation

If you’re considering embryo donation, you’ve likely tried various assisted reproductive technologies, undergone hours upon hours of workups, or possibly multiple miscarriages. No matter what you’ve tried, you and your partner’s gametes don’t seem to connect. If you still dream of giving birth, embryo donation may be an option.

Is Embryo Donation Right for You?

Candidates for embryo donation:

• Couples in which both partners have untreatable infertility
• A single woman with untreatable infertility
• Women with recurrent pregnancy loss from factors not associated with uterine or implantation problems
• Genetic disorders affecting one or both partners

The Process

In embryo donation, the embryos available are usually the result of fertility treatment whereby the couple who underwent treatment had extra embryos they opted to freeze, and have ultimately decided not to use these embryos to build their family. Donated embryos are also created from independent donor egg and donor sperm that are united in vitro (in a laboratory). The resulting three- to five-day-old embryo is then implanted in a woman’s uterus. If the transfer and pregnancy are successful, the embryo will grow for nine months to delivery. The baby’s physical traits - height, eye and hair color, and artistic or athletic bent - will come from neither the woman carrying the child or her partner.

Known and Anonymous Donation

Two types of embryo donation are practiced: known and anonymous. Known donors usually help select the recipients based on factors that may include religion, ethnicity, and education. Some donors want to maintain contact with the family, to follow their genetic child’s path. Couples choosing this option often must decide whether they want a known or anonymous donor. Most use an embryo matching service or infertility clinic.

In anonymous embryo donations, an infertility clinic often matches the donor and recipient based on qualities such as race, ethnicity, and religion. The donors never know if one if their embryos developed into a baby.

In embryo donation, the donor couple and the recipient should have separate attorneys. Both must sign informed consent documents covering areas such as relinquishment, parental rights and legal guardianship, as well as liability.

Success Rates

Embryo donation is a developing field. Its success rates, as measured by live births per embryo transfer, depend on the embryo’s quality, the egg donor’s age, the number of embryos transferred and the embryo’s developmental stage when frozen. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, embryo donation success rates are not available due to the limited number of procedures.