All You Need to Know About Egg and Sperm Donation

When a couple struggles to become pregnant and has remained unsuccessful, they are left with several options. The reason for infertility may greatly limit their choices in having a baby of their own. If the issues regarding fertility have been found to relate to the woman's egg or the man's sperm, they may seek a donor egg or a sperm donor.

In either case, only one intended parent would be the biological parent of the child. If the problem lies with either the egg or the sperm, IVF treatments may be tried on the intended mother. However, if that process is not successful, they may utilize the services of a surrogate mother.

When the medical reason for infertility is related to the woman's reproductive system, there are few options available. In some cases women will seek a donor egg in order to become pregnant. If the woman's body is able to support a pregnancy, she will seek a healthy donor egg and fertilize that egg using her partner's sperm.

Once the donor egg has been fertilized, doctors will try to implant the embryo into the mother utilizing IVF. While IVF treatments can be very expensive, it has a measured success rate among those struggling to conceive. Sometimes, a woman may be unable to sustain a pregnancy and may choose a surrogate to undergo IVF treatment using a donor egg or her own egg.

When the reason for infertility lies in the husband's sperm, the couple may seek a sperm donor. The intended mother may achieve pregnancy through artificial insemination, utilizing the sperm from the donor. In this case, only the intended mother would be a biological parent to the child. However, there are also cases when couples can still not achieve a healthy pregnancy. In addition, there are circumstances when a couple has illnesses that they would pass on through their eggs and sperm.

Therefore, they may use a surrogate mother and a sperm donor. For instance, they may utilize traditional surrogacy in which case the surrogate mother is the egg donor. However, they may also utilize gestational surrogacy, using both a sperm donor and an egg donor. They may choose this option if they do not want the surrogate to be a biological parent to their child.

Surrogacy can get rather complicated. The importance of being a biological parent will differ for each couple. However, there are instances when couples can only achieve pregnancy with a donor egg or a sperm donor. They may still choose to use a surrogate mother over adoption so that they can be present throughout the pregnancy.