How to choose an egg donor

According to the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA), around 12,000 people undergo fertility treatment in the UK every year using donor eggs or sperm.  

There are many reasons why you may be considering using donor eggs to build your family. Perhaps you’ve undergone treatment with your eggs already, or your circumstances mean that you require an egg donor from the beginning, be that as a solo parent, same-sex couple, co-parents, or poly family.  

Whatever journey has led you here, choosing an egg donor is now an important next step on your pathway to parenthood. It’s only natural you’ll have some questions around how it works and what you should consider when choosing your donor.  

It's a deeply personal and life-changing decision and you deserve to be supported and informed every step of the way.  

How does it work?

You’ll need to choose an egg donor yourself. This can be through an egg donor agency, a fertility clinic, or by using a known donor such as a friend, co-parent, partner, or family member.  In all these cases, the fertility treatment process works in mostly the same way. 

You’ll typically need to follow these steps: 

• Fertility assessment: For yourself and any other people involved. This helps identify which treatments are most likely to be effective and whether you need an egg donor. 
  
  

• Medical screening: Your donor will have screening. This includes if it’s someone you know or someone chosen through a licensed clinic or egg bank.
  
  

• Specialist counselling: This makes sure everyone has the same expectations and is happy to proceed. 

Once you’ve chosen your donor and you’ve completed your counselling and consent appointments, your fertility clinic will begin the process of egg collection. 

Usually, you and your egg donor need to sync your menstrual cycles by using temporary birth control. This allows your womb lining to be ready at the same time as the embryos. The exception is if you’re having a frozen embryo transfer.
 
Your egg donor will start a partial IVF treatment cycle. We’ll give them medication to encourage their ovaries to produce multiple eggs. These are then collected and fertilised with sperm in a lab to create embryos.  

After a few days of development, we'll transfer one or more embryos into the womb of the intended birth parent or surrogate. Any remaining viable embryos can be frozen for future use. 

You can read more about how egg donation works here.

Finding an egg donor

One way of finding an egg donor is through a licensed fertility clinic or egg bank. They’ll match you with someone who wants to be a donor. They have steps in place to make sure that the important legal and medical processes are followed for your protection. 

What information about potential donors will I have access to?

When selecting an egg donor, you’ll have access to a range of information to help you make an informed decision. This includes: 

• Physical characteristics: Information about your donor’s height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, and ethnicity 
   

• Medical history: Details about the donor’s medical background, including any genetic conditions, family medical history, and overall health 
   

• Education and interests: Information about the donor’s education, career, hobbies, and interests may also be available, giving you a sense of their personality and background 
   

• Personal profile: Many donors provide a personal statement or profile that gives insight into their motivations for donating and their outlook on life 
   

Depending on the desired characteristics of the egg donor, you might find there is a wait list for donated eggs. You can check the HFEA website for the latest waiting times at different clinics.  

There’s no set way to choose your donor. For many people, it comes down to a ‘gut feeling’. Some people make a shortlist first by thinking about whether they want a donor who looks like them, their partner, or family members.  

A future child will only inherit 50% of the donor’s DNA, so it’s important to remember that there’s no guarantee that they’ll inherit any particular characteristic.  

Legal parenthood and donor eggs

Understanding the legal side of using donor eggs is essential. In the UK, the birthing parent, rather than the egg donor, is always recognised as the legal parent of any resulting children.  

Once the child is born, the intended parents are listed on the birth certificate, and the donor has no legal rights or obligations regarding the child. This includes financial responsibilities and making decisions in their upbringing.   

You can find more legal FAQs for egg donation here. 

The 10-family limit for egg donors

In the UK, there is a legal limit on the number of families that can be created using eggs from the same donor. This limit is set at 10 families, although each family can have multiple children from the same donor if they choose.  

This limit is in place to reduce the risk of consanguinity (genetic relationships between offspring of the same donor). It also ensures the donor’s genetic contribution is not overrepresented in the population.