No, by donating through a licensed clinic you will not be the legal parent of any child born as a result from treatment with your eggs. You will not have any legal or financial responsibilities and you will not be named on the birth certificate.
Current British law allows a maximum of 10 families to be created from one donor. With egg donation, each donation cycle helps 1 – 2 women.
Only non-identifying information will be given to the recipients you are matched to. This includes a physical description, ethnic group, details of the screening tests and medical history. Other information that can also be given includes your occupation, interests and skills as well as a good will message and a pen portrait (description of yourself as a person).
Anyone born from your donated eggs will be able to request non-identifying information once they reach age 16.
At aged 18 or over they can then choose to find out who you are. They can request your identifying information (full name, date of birth and address). Only the child themselves can request identifying information, not their parents.
Any request for identifying information will be handled sensitively by the HFEA. They would attempt to contact you first to let you know a request for identifying information has been made. Both parties would receive support and counselling if they wanted to. It is important that you keep your contact details up to date as if the HFEA were unable to contact you the information would still be given out.
You are able to find out how many children were born (multiple births are a possibility), the year they were born and whether they were a boy or girl.
If you are eligible to become an egg donor and are donating to an anonymous recipient you will receive compensation of £750 to cover any expenses incurred.
Alternatively if you need IVF treatment yourself, then compensation can be given in the form of a reduced IVF treatment package price at one of the Bourn Hall Clinics instead.
Collecting the eggs is a medical procedure that can only be performed by a HFEA licensed centre. You would not be the legal parent of any children born or have any of the rights or financial responsibilities associated with being a legal parent. Some women do help other women in private arrangements outside of clinics but this would also mean carrying the baby and giving birth. These women are then automatically classed as the child’s legal mother and the process to change this is more complicated.
In addition to this, by donating through a clinic you would be screened for certain diseases and medical conditions to help ensure that babies born are healthy and that there are also no risks to those receiving your eggs.
At present our best success rates are with fresh eggs, so we will try to use them for treatment straight away. If we are unable to match you to a recipient they can be frozen for future use.
Yes, the medication needed to stimulate your ovaries to make eggs has to be injected. The injections are in easy to use pre-filled pens. You would be shown at the clinic how to use them and you would then need to administer them yourself at home.
The procedure is generally not painful but you may experience discomfort. It is either performed under sedation or a general anaesthetic when appropriate. You may also be slightly uncomfortable in the few days after the procedure which normally eases with over the counter pain relief.
Being an egg donor will not affect your long term fertility. In each donation cycle the number of eggs that are used is similar to the number lost in each natural cycle.
We will first ask you to visit our nurses at the clinic for a blood test to test your ovarian reserve and check your BMI. The next visit will involve a medical consultation with a doctor, a counselling session and screening tests. If all is well with the screening tests a further visit is required to complete consent forms and to learn about the drugs and injections. When you are ready to start your donation cycle you may be asked to attend the clinic for a scan and then once you start taking the medication to stimulate your ovaries to produce eggs you will need to visit the clinic several times every few days to see how the follicles are growing (roughly 3-6 visits). When they are ready you will return to the clinic for the egg collection procedure.
The following screening tests will be carried out to assess whether you can donate;
- HIV
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Cystic fibrosis screen
- VDRL and TPHA (to exclude syphilis)
- Cytomegalovirus – CMV (IgG and IgM assay)
- Cytogenetic analysis to examine the chromosomes of the cells
- Blood group
- Chlamydia (urine test)
- Gonorrhoea (urine test)
There may be additional tests that need to be carried out depending on your ethnicity or country of birth.
Yes. If you are the correct age and you have a good ovarian reserve you may be eligible to become an egg sharer. We run a successful egg sharing programme at the clinic for those who require fertility treatment. In appreciation of you becoming an egg sharer you and your partner would receive a reduced IVF treatment package price at any of the Bourn Hall Clinics. This would be instead of the £750 expenses payment. All other information on this website is applicable to egg sharers except you may not have to visit for an initial AHM test if you have had one at the clinic recently.
If you have a relative or friend who needs donor eggs, it may be possible for you to donate to them at one of our clinics. It may be that you want to help but you don’t want to donate your eggs directly to someone you know. In these instances you can donate to an anonymous recipient who needs donor eggs and as a thank you your friend/relative would be matched to the next available egg donor, reducing the time they have to wait.
The details about you will be stored at the Bourn Hall clinics. In addition to this, we will also register you as an egg donor with the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) and the information will be stored in their offices in London. The HFEA licence and regulate UK fertility clinics.
No! Those who need the help from egg donors are all different, different heights, different ethnicities, different characteristics. That’s why it’s important that our donors are too!
Absolutely. Egg donors can be single or have a partner. If you are in a relationship, it's really important you discuss becoming an egg donor with your partner as they may have questions as well. You would be welcome to attend the consultations and counselling together if you wish.