One of the amazing things about choosing surrogacy to grow your family is that you can use an egg donor to make your dreams of parenthood possible.
Contact a surrogacy professional today to find out more about how people use egg donors for surrogacy.
This FAQ will detail why people choose to use surrogacy egg donors, how they find them, and more.
What is Egg Donation?
Egg donation can help couples have children on their own or with the help of a gestational surrogate.
The people involved in the donor surrogacy process include:
- An egg donor (anonymous or open-identified)
- The intended parents
- A gestational surrogate (if you choose surrogacy to grow your family)
What is an Egg Donor?
Surrogacy egg donors are women who donate their eggs to an egg donation center. Surrogacy egg donors undergo screenings to ensure their eggs are healthy. Intended parents can choose the characteristics they want their egg donor to have.
When an egg donor provides their eggs, they can choose to remain anonymous or identified.
- Anonymous egg donor: Intended parents won’t receive any of the donor’s personal information or medical history.
- Open-identified donor: A donor provides helpful information about their family and medical history that is useful for the child later in life.
Who Uses a Surrogacy Egg Donor?
Intended parents can choose to use surrogacy egg donors for many different reasons. The following are just some of the people who may decide to use an egg donor:
- A woman who can carry a child but does not have viable eggs
- A heterosexual couple where the woman is unable to carry a pregnancy
- A same-sex male couple or same-sex female couple where both partners experience infertility
- A couple where the woman would prefer not to pass down certain hereditary conditions to her baby
Does Surrogacy Use Donor Eggs?
If you’ve asked, “Are egg donors used in surrogacy,” the answer is sometimes.
Using a surrogacy egg donor is a personal decision. You and your partner can choose to use an egg donor for the reasons listed above or for any other reason. Discuss how using a surrogacy egg donor makes you both feel and if it’s right for your situation.
Egg Donors and Surrogacy [What to Know]
If you think using a surrogacy egg donor is right for you and your partner, you can take the following steps to start your surrogacy journey.
Step 1: Contact a Surrogacy Agency
Once you and your partner decide that surrogacy is right for you, you’ll want to reach out to a surrogacy agency to start your journey. It’s essential to work with a surrogacy agency that offers the following services:
- Fixed fees: When a surrogacy agency offers fixed fees, you’ll know how much you’ll pay for certain surrogacy expenses (mainly surrogacy agency costs) at the start of your journey. This helps with budgeting.
- Short wait times: When an agency can prove its average wait time is low, you know you will become a parent sooner.
- Personal support: Agencies that quickly reply to your requests are more likely to answer your questions during your surrogacy journey.
Step 2: Match with a Gestational Surrogate
Surrogacy agencies work with women who are pre-screened and ready to become surrogates. This means you have the opportunity to match with a surrogate quickly.
For example, our market research shows that the average wait time for most surrogacy agencies is 12 to 18 months. But, if you work with an agency like American Surrogacy, a national surrogacy agency that’s created successful surrogacies since 2013, the average wait time for intended parents is only 30 to 90 days.
Step 3: Sign the Surrogacy Contract
Once you find a surrogate you want to work with, you and the surrogate will receive representation from separate surrogacy attorneys. They will ensure that everyone’s rights are protected in the surrogacy contract. Once both parties agree with the drafted agreement, you’ll sign it and continue on your journey.
Step 4: Find a Surrogacy Egg Donor
Your surrogacy professional will likely have donor clinic recommendations you can work with. Generally, look for a clinic that can answer the following questions about their donors:
- Do your surrogacy egg donors sign a donor contract?
- Can I work with an identified surrogacy egg donor?
- Do your donors have in-depth profiles? Are your surrogacy egg donors thoroughly screened?
What’s the Cost of Surrogacy With a Donor Egg?
Although your surrogacy journey will cost more if you use donors, knowing you’ll soon become a parent is well worth the price. The cost of donor eggs and sperm varies by state, clinic, and if you use fresh or frozen eggs.
Step 5: Start the Medical Surrogacy Process
The surrogacy clinic will transfer the embryo to the surrogate’s body once it has formed. This process is called IVF.
During IVF, the surrogacy clinic will:
- Sync the cycles of the surrogate and the egg donor if you’re using fresh eggs (you can skip this step and the next step if you use frozen eggs)
- Harvest eggs
- Use the intended father’s sperm sample (or sperm donor) to combine with the eggs
- Create the embryo
- Transfer the embryo to the surrogate
Step 6: Confirm a Pregnancy
After the embryo transfer process, the surrogacy clinic will monitor the surrogate.
Once a healthy, stable pregnancy is confirmed, the clinic will transfer the surrogate to an OBGYN for the remainder of the surrogacy.
Step 7: Bring Your Baby Home
Once the surrogate gives birth to your baby, she’ll go home to recover and reflect on the beautiful gift she’s given your family, and you’ll go home to start your parenthood journey!
Work With a Surrogacy Egg Donor to Start Your Journey
A surrogacy egg donor can help you create an embryo and complete your surrogacy journey. Reach out to a surrogacy professional today to star your surrogacy journey.
