Deciding to engage in egg donation is not an easy choice. Both donors and recipients will experience unexpected stresses during the stimulation, extraction and implantation periods of the procedure. Below are 4 considerations donors should include when planning to donate or receive eggs.
1. Why Am I Doing This?
For donors, the answer to this question might be a financial incentive, or it could be that she genuinely wishes to help another couple. However, regardless of the answer, a donor needs to consider how she will feel after donation. Whether monetary rewards will induce guilt or relieve stress, and whether the donor will truly feel as though she has helped a couple are questions that only a donor can answer individually.
Recipients must ask themselves the same question. Of course, most likely the answer will be the recipients desire to have a child, but whether this is the right method for that goal should not be presumed. Anticipated recipients of donated eggs should consider whether other options, such as adoption or surrogacy, will better fit their lifestyle and expectations.
2. What Are My Expectations?
Many times, expectant parents have ideas about what they would like their child to look like and other physical characteristics. With egg donation, these are impossible to predict. Each individual involved in egg donation must seriously question their expectations for the donation and whether such expectations are reasonable or even obtainable. Couples should consider their expectations first separately before talking to each other.
3. What Will We Tell the Child and Public?
Couples purchasing or receiving donated eggs must consider what they will tell the child and public about the child’s creation, and how such disclosure makes them feel. Telling the truth might be met with anger from the child, disbelief from the public or any other of a number of unsettling or disturbing responses. However, not telling the child may make the recipients feel guilty or as though they are lying. This decision should be made prior to the egg’s purchase to ensure.
4. How Do I Feel About Plan B?
While physicians and recipients can exercise the upmost caution in selecting and hiring donors, there is no guarantee that the donor will complete the procedure or that the procedure will be successful. Because of this, recipients should always shave a Plan B in place. Whether that Plan B includes hiring another donor or attempting surrogacy or adoption, recipients should identify how they feel about implementing that plan. Recipients might decide to go with Plan B because it is, overall, safer than egg donation.
5. How Will I Feel Watching Another Woman Carry the Egg?
Whether the carrier is the donor, a surrogate or the recipient, each woman must question how she will feel watching or knowing that another woman is carrying her child. It is not easy knowing that your egg resulted in a child for whom you will have no relationship with.
