• Education, Information & Consultation
• In-vitro fertilization (IVF)
• Male Factor Infertility
• Egg Donation
• Gestational Carriers (Surrogacy)
• Gay Surrogacy
• Reciprocal IVF for Lesbian Couples
• Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS)
• Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
• Egg Freezing (Elective & Medical)
• Embryo Donation

» Rhonda Levy » Services » Embryo Donation

Embryo Donation

What Is Embryo Donation?

Couples and individuals who have completed their family through IVF sometimes have surplus embryos frozen at their fertility clinic. When this is the case, they have several options. They can keep the embryos in storage indefinitely, destroy them, transfer them to the woman's reproductive tract in a way that is unlikely to result in pregnancy, donate them to medical research, or donate them to another couple or individual who has been unable to overcome their own infertility struggle. Those who decide to donate their embryos to another couple or individual can make the donation on an anonymous basis, a known/open basis, or they can allow an intermediary to communicate select information between them and the recipients.

Embryos that are available for donation can be found through a fertility clinic that has its own embryo donation program, independently by recipients through personal relationships or on line, or through agencies designed to help embryo donors and recipients find one another.

Topics Covered When We Educate Our Clients About Embryo Donation

• Guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine ("ASRM) regarding embryo donation;
• Possible levels of information sharing and contact between recipients and donors following embryo donation;
• Comparative analysis of fertility clinics that have their own embryo donation programs;
• Questions to ask at an initial consultation with a fertility doctor about embryo donation;
• Comparative analysis of embryo donation agencies;
• Questions to ask at an initial consultation with an embryo donation agency;
• Rigorous standards of embryo donor and recipient screening by fertility clinics and embryo donation agencies;
• Finding donated embryos independently;
• Grant programs to cover or offset the cost of embryo donation;
• Programs to finance the cost of embryo donation;
• Lawyers who specialize in third party reproduction, including embryo donation; and
• Psychologists, social workers and therapists who specialize in the emotional and psychological considerations in third party reproduction, including embryo donation.