Becoming an Egg Donor
City Fertility operates a comprehensive egg donor program, Egg Donors Australia, to give egg donor recipients who are unable to produce eggs or can’t use their own eggs, the chance to become pregnant and have children. It assists infertile individuals and couples to have a family – something they are unable to achieve on their own.
We offer in-depth information about our egg donor program, and our expert fertility nurses can answer any questions about it and the steps involved.
Steps to Becoming an Egg Donor
To become an egg donor, you must register your interest by completing the Egg Donors Australia Registration Form. This form allows us to check that you meet the initial criteria to become an Egg Donor with EDA.
You will be asked to fill in a Self-Assessment and Medical History form. This form helps us understand your health background and is an important part of ensuring there’s minimal risk of passing on any genetic conditions. It only takes a few minutes, and a team member will review it with you over Teams following your submission to ensure it is accurate. This form will be delivered via email.
These tests are required as part of the routine screening process, necessary before treatment. You will be required to take some screening blood tests, and the results will be forwarded to your specialist. Some of the screening blood tests you will be required to take are: HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Karyotype, Blood Group, Rubella, Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea. You will also complete Extended Carrier Screenings in the form of a saliva test, which checks for over 175+ genetic conditions. Complimentary counselling with a geneticist is available if you are positive for a condition.
A vaginal ultrasound examination is performed to check the normality of the ovaries and uterus. A donor coordinator will provide you with a referral form and advise you of a nearby radiology clinic that performs pelvic ultrasounds. The donor coordinator and treating clinician will review the results.
A donor coordinator will contact you via email to provide the necessary consent forms and book your required appointments.
To ensure that you are medically suitable to become an egg donor, you will require a consultation with one of our specialists. This doctor will review your medical and family history and explain the process of becoming an egg donor.
It is mandatory for women who are considering donating eggs (and their partners) to attend two counselling sessions. Counselling provides the opportunity to discuss treatment on a more personal level. It allows you to raise more private issues, such as individual concerns, relationship difficulties, or current life situations that may affect the donor’s treatment experience. You will also discuss issues related to the future rights of the child (who has been conceived from donor gametes) to know their genetic background. A “cooling off” period of 14 days (between the first and second counselling sessions) is required before any treatment can commence. This is to ensure that you have been given adequate time to consider all aspects of the donation program.
To ensure everything is ready for the treatment to begin, the specialist and fertility nurse will do a final review of the counselling reports, blood tests and consent forms.
Understanding the Egg Donation Process
You will be given a combination of medications, possibly including the oral contraceptive pill and a nasal spray, for a few weeks. Daily injections of follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH) into the abdomen over a course of approximately 10 days are necessary in order to stimulate the ovaries to produce a number of eggs.
We monitor the ovaries using ultrasounds and blood tests and adjust medication dosages and combinations accordingly.
The starting date and the dosage of your medication will be instructed by the specialist and the fertility nurse. The medications are administered daily until your doctor or fertility nurse advises you to cease.
Egg collection procedure
Egg collection is performed via an ultrasound-guided transvaginal egg pick-up (EPU) under light sedation or a mild general anaesthetic.
A probe is inserted into the vagina, and the ovaries and follicles are monitored by ultrasound. A fine needle is passed through the vaginal wall and into the follicles, draining them of their fluid. The fluid is then collected in a test tube, emptied into a small dish, and examined under a microscope for an egg.
The procedure takes 20–30 minutes and is usually a half-day hospital stay. You will need someone to drive you home, with normal activities resuming within 24 hours.
Requirements to Become an Egg Donor
Healthy donors of all backgrounds are able to donate their eggs, on the condition that they meet the following criteria:
- Aged 18-32 if clinic-recruited. Egg donors over 32 will not be accepted for clinic-recruited donation. The suitable age of a known egg donor must be discussed with your specialist.
- No history of inherited disease. Donors will not be accepted if they suffer from an illness, disease or genetic condition that can be passed on to a child conceived from the donation.
- Able to provide a family medical history.
- If married or in a de facto relationship, the partner must consent to the donation.
- Clinic-Recruited donors must have a permanent address and be contactable for follow-up medical tests. They are required to provide three identifiers and proof of a permanent address, e.g., a driver’s licence, photo ID, and a passport.
- Clinic-recruited egg donors must be eligible for full Medicare benefits in Australia.
Types of Egg Donors
- Known donation: When the donor and recipient have an existing relationship, such as a sister, relative, or friend. This can offer greater clarity around genetic background and shorter wait times. Proceeding with a known donor is subject to clinical assessment and approval.
- Clinic-recruited donation: When a donor chooses to provide eggs for a recipient whom they have never met. Your identity is not shared with the recipient, but you must consent to the release of your identifying information to any child conceived by Australian law, typically once they turn 18 or earlier, with counsellor approval.
Frequently Asked Questions about Egg Donation
For some recipients, donor eggs offer the only chance they have to turn their dreams of motherhood into a reality. There are many reasons why recipients need donor eggs to have a baby, including:
- Premature menopause.
- Unable to use their own eggs due to genetic causes.
- Repeatedly unsuccessful using the IVF program.
- Born without ovaries.
- Undergone treatment for cancer.
Donated eggs can also be used in surrogacy for gay couples or single men.
Yes. Your donated eggs carry your genetic material, meaning any child conceived will be genetically related to you. During the egg donation process, you will attend two counselling sessions with an experienced ANZICA fertility counsellor to consider and discuss the implications of egg donation, before you proceed to donate.
Following your donation, your profile will appear on Eeve Donor Bank, our donor bank. Recipients can then browse donors and select a donor based on attributes that matter to them.
Donations are de-identified, so you will not know the recipient. However, Australian law also allows donor-conceived individuals to access identifying information about their donor once they reach a certain age, which varies by state. This means your identity may be shared in the future, so it is important to consider the long-term implications before proceeding.
If you choose a known donation, arrangements are agreed upon up front. Speak with a City Fertility specialist to understand your options.
If you are considering becoming an egg donor, it is important to consider these questions:
- What are the current state laws or regulations regarding the donation of oocytes?
- Who are the legal parents of the child?
- Are records kept of the donor and recipient couples?
- How would you feel if the donor and the recipient could be identified, and the child could contact you?
- How is the recipient woman matched to me?
- Is fertilisation and pregnancy guaranteed?
- How many times can a woman donate?
We hope the information above provides you with a comprehensive introduction to becoming one of the exceptional people interested in egg donation; you will be giving another person the opportunity to fulfil their dream of having a baby.