What is Embryo Donation?

Embryo donation is a process utilized when a couple who cannot conceive through IVF technology using their own egg and sperm. This could be because there are problems associated with either the recipient's egg or the recipient's sperm or both. In cases such as these, the couple can choose to adopt an embryo formed from a donor egg which is fertilized using unrelated donor sperm.

What is the Embryo Donation Process?

In the embryo donation process, a couple will receive a non-autologous embryo. It simply means that the couple who receive the embryo will not be genetically connected to either the egg or the sperm donor. You are adopting a fertilized and frozen embryo where both the egg and sperm come from unrelated donors. Embryo donation can, therefore, be considered as a third party donation. In the embryo donation process, the embryos are created using a donor egg and an unrelated sperm.

IVF methods are utilized to create an embryo from a donor egg and donor sperm. The fertilized embryo thus formed will be placed in the uterus of the recipient woman who will then be taken care of through her pregnancy and childbirth. The child will then be considered as the child of the mother who delivers the child. The principle followed is the same as that involved in sperm or egg donation. Embryo donation is often done in an anonymous process to protect the privacy of all the parties involved.

What About the Baby?

The difficult choice of letting your child know about their biological parents remains in embryo donation too, just like in traditional adoptions. It is important that the parents should understand all the emotional complications involved in the process before committing to it.