June marks the celebration of Pride Month, and Stronger Together Surrogacy is celebrating LGBTQ+ family-building initiatives nationwide! Third-party reproduction with the use of an egg donor through egg (oocyte) donation and gestational surrogacy is essential in helping LGBTQ+ individuals.
Choosing how you wish to accomplish your family with a direct egg donor or utilizing an egg bank is a significant decision. This decision demands careful consideration and preparation. Here is a helpful start to assist LGBTQ+ couples, single intended parents, and heteronormative couples, in navigating the egg donation process.
Choosing Between an Egg Bank or Agency
It is important to thoroughly research your options and consider the significance of testimonials and success rates. These testimonials offer valuable insights into a clinic’s mission and atmosphere. This will provide you a clearer understanding of working with the medical team, and what to anticipate throughout the process.
Although some couples opt for a known donor, like a sister, friend, or other family member, it is common for individuals to select an anonymous donor from an egg donor agency or egg bank. For same-sex couples, finding an LGBTQ+ friendly agency is crucial.
Deciding between a fresh or frozen donor cycle is a personal choice. The best option for you will depend on your family-building timeline, goals, and budget. A Frozen egg donation cycle can be completed in as little as a few weeks to 2 months. A fresh donation cycle can typically take six to nine months. The primary distinction between the two lies in the timing of fertilization. In fresh cycles, eggs are fertilized immediately after retrieval, whereas in frozen cycles, eggs from donors are already cryogenically preserved. Both options tend to offer similar pregnancy rates.
The Main Differences
With egg banks, you know that the pool of potential egg donors has already been screened and the number of matured eggs is confirmed. This gives you and your partner time to focus on reviewing the profiles to select an egg donor based on your preferred criteria. Each profile includes the potential donor’s personal information, like physical attributes, ethnic background, education level, pictures, and more.
With direct donation agencies, the egg donor has already passed multiple levels of screening and is ready to match. This route offers several unknowns, however, there are many positives to this route as well. Generally, if you choose to use a fresh donor, there may be potentially more eggs available. The potential downside of using fresh oocytes is that it can be more expensive (sometimes even $30,000 more expensive in 2024). You will also have to cover her cost of travel to your clinic and a travel partner for her. The number of eggs that may be obtained will be unpredictable as well. However, you may wish to have a relationship with your donor, so this option will offer the chance if you wish.
Finding The Right Donor
After selecting your route, the search for an egg donor can begin by exploring the agency’s database of donors. To further enhance the chances of success for intended parents, egg donors undergo thorough screening procedures to qualify.
This screening process involves:
- Medical tests for infectious diseases, genetics, drug use, and fertility
- Psychological evaluation
- The donor’s education, hobbies, and characteristics
- An extensive overview of family and personal medical history
Other Considerations for Same-Sex Male Couples
In addition to selecting an egg donor, male couples must determine which partner will contribute the sperm for fertilization. Equally, you also need to locate a gestational surrogate who will carry and deliver your baby.
Surrogacy Agencies aid in the matching process and can connect you with a surrogate who aligns with your perspective. Given the complex medical, legal, and logistical aspects involved in using an egg donor and a surrogate, utilizing Stronger Together Surrogacy as your agency for assistance in managing your surrogacy journey will be a smooth option.
The Fine Print of Egg Donation
Egg donors typically receive compensation ranging from $5,000 to $50,000+ depending on their total number of cycles, agreement, and experience. Alternate programs are also available where the egg donation process allows the donor to keep a portion of the retrieved eggs, and no compensation is given to the donor.
While some agencies require you to pay extra to guarantee a set number of embryos, some agencies and services have a pregnancy guarantee, some even with a baby guarantee, built into their coordination fee.
What does this mean? If the donor doesn’t clear the screening process, the cycle doesn’t lead to embryos, or the embryos don’t result in a pregnancy, they will rematch you and/or cover the creation of more embryos. Reading the fine print of your agency is critical when you get reassurance in creating your family. This reassurance may be extended to using a gestational carrier, if applicable, so be sure to confirm this is present in their guarantees as well.
Our role in Egg Donation at Stronger Together Surrogacy
Utilizing an egg donor can be a viable option when striving to create a family. At Stronger Together Surrogacy, we do not offer egg donation services at this time. However, we all have experience working with these services and have strong relationships with several egg donation banks and agencies. Altogether, we are available as your Surrogacy Agency to support your family. We are happy to offer advice in narrowing down the right one for your family.
