Egg Donation after a Miscarriage

Egg donation can usually be performed by any woman with normally functioning ovaries. In some instances, a woman will turn to egg donation after attempting other methods of becoming pregnant, whether or not successful. Sometimes, a donor may have previously experienced a miscarriage and, for whatever reason, decides to freeze her eggs for use by an unknown recipient or for personal use in the future.

The Effect of Miscarriage on Egg Production

Most likely, what caused the miscarriage was not the egg or ovaries. Most miscarriages occur in the first trimester, which is the first three months of pregnancy. These miscarriages can be due to a problem with the fertilized egg that prevents proper growth or would result in a severely deformed child. The body’s response to an unhealthy or unsustainable pregnancy is to cause a miscarriage. A miscarriage occurring during this time is almost impossible to attribute a cause to.

Miscarriage in the latter months of a pregnancy is much more serious and rare. In these instances, there may have been a problem with the baby’s growth or the mother’s body may have been unable to properly grow or sustain being pregnant for a multitude of reasons. A miscarriage in the last 6 months of pregnancy will be thoroughly investigated by the mother’s physician.

A miscarriage, though, means that a woman was able to become pregnant with her own eggs. A miscarriage is separate from egg production, and therefore will have no effect on egg production. Because of this, a woman seeking to donate her eggs after miscarriage will be able to produce sufficient eggs to permit donation.

Miscarriages and Egg Quality

However, a miscarriage might indicate that there is a problem with the quality of the woman’s eggs. Since one of the causes of miscarriage during the first trimester of pregnancy is a non-viable fetus, the woman’s eggs may have been ill formed, unable to be properly fertilized or unable to develop properly. What this means is that while a would-be egg donor that has previously experienced a miscarriage will be able to donate eggs, those eggs may not be able to cause a pregnancy or cause a viable baby to form from a fertilized egg.

Egg Donation and Miscarriage

Because of the risk that a donor who has previously experienced a miscarriage has nonviable eggs, many banks may be reluctant or refuse to permit such a donor to donate. Because of the expense of retrieving and paying egg donors, reluctant egg banks will perform extensive tests to try and determine the quality of the eggs that will be retrieved to ensure viable eggs will be retrieved. Even then, though, many egg banks or specialists will not be able to definitively eliminate poor egg quality as the reason for the miscarriage and may refuse to permit that woman to donate.

However, this is not universal for all egg donors and egg banks. A donor that is donating for personal use in the future will most likely not be prevented from donation, despite the potential for her eggs to be unusable. Some egg banks, furthermore, will be willing to take the risk that the donated eggs to be used by unknown recipients will not be viable.

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