Rachel's home page - Egg donation - Executive summary

Executive summary

It's a lot of hassle with an uncertain outcome. You can't use any hormonal contraception for several months, there are multiple ultrasound scans of your ovaries, multiple injections, many visits to the clinic and the aftermath can be painful. After all that, the recipient may not get pregnant and even if she does, you will never see or know the child if you are donating anonymously (there are far more hoops to jump through to donate to someone you know). All that said, I'm still glad I did it.

Context

Some general information about the context of my donation, in an effort to reduce my FAQs.

• I am British and I live in the United Kingdom. It is illegal here to be paid for your genetic material. All that is allowed is compensation for travel expenses and loss of earnings incurred during the donation process. I understand that things are different in the USA, where there are no such restrictions and women with the "right" qualities can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars selling their eggs. Personally I consider this distasteful, devaluing the gift made by the donor, and think the UK has it right.
• I am not an expert on fertility or on the egg donation process or on fertility clinics. This page is just a description of my experience, and the things I found out along the way.
• I was in my mid-twenties at the time I donated eggs.

Rachel's home page - Egg donation - Executive summary