Egg donation
How to make the egg donation?
The egg donation is done anonymously and altruistically from one woman to another with the aim of allowing that woman to have a child.
The EUDONA Programme is a private initiative which tries to help women who want to become egg donors. The donor eggs will be used by women who do not produce their own eggs.
What is egg donation?
In a natural way a woman produces one mature egg every month. If it is fertilised it becomes an embryo and develops during the pregnancy. However, if not fertilised the egg does not develop and leaves the woman’‘s body with menstrual blood.
From her birth a healthy woman has some 400,000 oocytes in her ovaries. These oocytes are primary eggs and during the woman’‘s fertile life only one out of every 1000 (not more than 400) will mature and have the chance to be fertilised.
Every month several eggs begin to develop at the same time and this process ends with their ovulation. Only one of those eggs becomes a mature egg as the others deteriorate and lose their ability to be fertilised. In this way the woman’‘s body prepares for the pregnancy if that is what she wants. If not, this egg is unnecessary and is released with the menstrual blood.
The egg donation is an anonymous, free and altruistic act of donating eggs from one woman to another so that she can have a child. These come from a natural reserve in the ovaries and which normally would never be used.
Therefore, although the egg donation consists of donating something from one person to another, it does not mean the definitive loss of something irreplaceable. It is also a way of taking advantage of some of those eggs which a woman will never use.
The female egg carries the chromosomes of the woman whereas the spermatozoon carries those of the man. However, people are unique because at the moment of the egg fertilization the genetic information from both mother and father is mixed. This procedure ensures that the combination of the particular characteristics of the parents is always different.
Moreover, maternity is a long process in which the future child has a strong bond with its mother. Throughout this process it will not only receive necessary nutrients for its development, but also immunological protection from the mother who protects it.
Lastly, only love from the parents for a baby born into a loving family can shape it as a person.
In other words, if the donation of an egg makes up an important and irreplaceable part in the making of a new person, then so too does the fertilisation with the semen from the man. Finally, the happy end of the gestation process and the education of the new person in a family where it is wanted and cared for, are equally important.
Who needs an egg donation?
The donated eggs are the only alternative that some women can use to have their own child. This happens in cases where there is no medical or surgical treatment so that the couple can have their own child.
The reasons why a woman needs an egg donation are diverse but they can be summed up in two large groups: either the woman does not have eggs in her ovaries, or that they are not fit for having a child.
Who are the women who do not have eggs?
In this first case the main reason that causes a woman not to have eggs fit for conceiving is early menopause. This comes about before the normal age and happens when menopause starts 15 or 20 years before it should happen naturally. That is to say, if a woman begins her menopause when she is still very young and she still has not had a child, she will not be able to have one unless with a donation from a fertile woman.
Thanks to epidemiological studies it is known that approximately 5% of women develop this pathology, which is much more than is imagined by many people who are unaware of this subject.
In other cases, the cause is medical as is the case of those women whose ovaries were taken out because of a tumour, for example. Once they are recovered these women still cannot have their own children unless they use eggs donated from another woman.
When can the woman not use her own eggs?
There are some cases in which women cannot have children because their own eggs are not fit to conceive.
This is due to certain genetic anomalies in which the woman cannot have healthy children because the genetic make-up of her eggs is damaged.
In other cases, it is not advisable from a medical viewpoint that a woman has children because there is the risk of transmitting a hereditary illness from her side of the family. This happens with certain illnesses such as haemophilia which affects blood clotting ability.
Egg donation procedure
Any healthy woman who wishes to donate eggs can do so as long as she meets the requirements set down by the law.
Once the donor has been found the menstrual cycles of both women have to be synchronized. Therefore, both the recipient and the donor have to be at the same stage of their period. This is achieved using appropriate pharmaceutical treatment which allows the cycle to be controlled in an easy and efficient way.
The donor
In a natural way only one egg is produced per month in the ovaries of the woman. For this reason and with the aim of guaranteeing the efficiency of the donation, the donor receives treatment to stimulate her ovaries so that more than one egg matures for the donation, as not all of them are fit to be used. Some do not develop normally and do not get to the complete stage of maturity, while others are not fertilised for reasons that are still unclear.
The control of the treatment is carried out by means of ultrasound and hormone tests. Later, before ovulation takes place, the eggs are collected via aspiration with an ultrasound scan.
The recipient
Bearing in mind that eggs cannot be preserved, the ovarian cycle of the recipient has to be synchronized with the donor’‘s so that they coincide in their ovulation. This is necessary both for the extraction of the eggs from the donor and for their implantation in the recipient.
Therefore, the egg recipient undergoes pharmacological treatment which prepares her endometrium to receive and protect the embryo. The endometrium is epithelium which covers the inside of the uterus and allows that the embryo finds suitable conditions to implant. When the woman does not become pregnant, the endometrium degenerates every month and leaves the woman’‘s body together with menstrual blood.
How are the donor eggs used?
The most well-known treatment is called In Vitro fertilisation (IVF). It is a commonly used technique which helps treat fertility problems in sterile couples and involves cultivating donor eggs with the male partner’‘s sperm in a special medium in the laboratory.
Later on the obtained embryos are transferred inside the uterus of the recipient where they continue their growth if the implant is successful. Normally two or three are transferred as usually only one of them implants and, if all goes well, continues its development.
When the couple’‘s infertility is also due to the male partner, (such as when there is not enough sperm) usually another technique is recommended. It is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) which consists of injecting each spermatozoon inside the egg. It is a very precise technique which requires the use of a microscope. Once fertilised, this egg is transferred, as in the case before, to the uterus of the recipient.
Donation Legislation
Having children is a right recognised by the Spanish Constitution. Therefore, the donation helps those women who are sterile due to pathologies or incurable conditions to be mothers. These women can therefore find a solution to their problem which otherwise would leave them no other option except adoption as the only way of having a child.
The egg donation is a procedure authorised by our legislation. To be precise, there are two legal texts which regulate this practice.
The Law 14/2006 on Assisted Reproduction Techniques is the judicial framework regulating the help medicine can offer to resolve problems of couple fertility bearing in mind medical, legal and ethical aspects.
The Royal Decree 412/1996 is the document which outlines this law with regard to all the aspects of the donation of female gametes (eggs).
In conclusion, these documents set out that the egg donation for the aims authorised by the law (in this case where a sterile woman can have a child) is a free, formal, and anonymous agreement between the donor and the medical centre formalised in writing. The law states moreover, that the donation should never have an economic or commercial benefit, and that studies and health controls should be carried out on the donors and recipients to guarantee their good health.
The egg donors have to be of the age of consent and under 35, be fully aware of their actions and be in good psychophysical condition. The donation has to be formalised via a written agreement after the donor has received all the information about the procedure to follow. It also has to be a voluntary act undertaken by the donor under no force or deception. Last of all, there has to be a total guarantee of privacy and all the information will be kept in complete confidentiality.
If the donor already has children, there must not be more than six and in no case is it possible to have more than six children from her donations.
The legal documents also specify that there must be a guarantee of maximum phenotype and immunological similarity between the donor and the recipient – they should have the same blood group and not be very different physically.
How can I become a donor?
The legislation specifies that women can be egg donors if they wish to and meet the following requirements:
- Be older than 18 and younger than 35
- Be in good psychophysical condition
- Sign the corresponding agreement
- Can legally authorise it
To be a donor they must go to a centre running a donation programme, follow a process in which they receive all the information necessary, and where their physical and psychological health is checked.
Therefore, a medical check-up is carried out on the donors to be which includes the personal family history as well as a physical examination:
- Height, weight
- Complexion (pale, dark)
- Eye colour (brown, blue, green, amber, black, others)
- Hair colour (blond, fair, brown, black, ginger, others)
- Hair type (straight, wavy, curly, others)
- Blood group and Rh factor (A, B, AB, O+, others)
- Race
The donors also undergo the following tests:
- Blood group and Rh factor
- VDRL or similar test to detect syphilis
- A test to detect hepatitis
- A test to detect signs of HIV
- A clinical study to detect toxoplasmosis, rubella, herpes, cytomegalovirus
- A clinical study to detect infection of neisseria gonorreae and chlamydia tracomatis
All this means that donors to be undergo a free complete medical and gynaecological check-up. This check, which is necessary to guarantee their health for the donation, allows them to gain precise information about their physical condition.
Reward
The egg donation brings with it personal satisfaction which is a private experience for every donor and which undoubtedly justifies it.
Moreover, the fact of being included in a donation programme allows a woman to know her health condition as to be an egg donor she has to be in good health and show it via tests and analysis.
On the other hand, there is also the possibility that the donor receives an economic reward for the inconvenience that the procedure may produce. Currently this is around 900 Euros depending on the number of appointments, trips to the clinic, or how many times it was necessary to eat out for example.
If it is the donor’‘s wish this reward can be sent to a non-profit making organisation, to a home for children, or to an association which helps women, among others.
Egg donation and solidarity
When a woman wants to become pregnant and she cannot conceive with her own eggs, she can consider adopting or join a donation programme. If she chooses donation, she is entered on a waiting list and has to wait for another woman to donate her eggs that can be fertilised with her partner’‘s semen and therefore have the child they want.
In such a way this woman can have a child who could not have been conceived without the donation. Thanks to the donation she can live the pregnancy herself and enjoy the maternity experience including the gestation and giving birth.
The donation is an act of solidarity because it is anonymous, voluntary and altruistic. That is to say, there is no direct acknowledgement or gratification on behalf of the person who benefits from it.
The anonymity guarantees the privacy of the donor and the recipient and helps justify the donation itself.
The altruistic nature of the donation makes it a free commitment as no gratification is expected from it. This demand, which is also explained in the law, guarantees the absence of any mercantilism in the donation and avoids its possible economic exploitation.
Finally, the voluntary nature of the act is required in order to avoid that the donation is undertaken under any pressure, and against a person’‘s freewill. It must be clear that the donor acts voluntarily.
Spanish legislation summary for the donation of gametes