The news keeps making its way to our papers about surrogacy and egg donations. Have you ever wondered what it actually is? Most of us have not. Let us take a brief look here at what it actually means and how it is done.

Egg donation is the procedure through which a healthy woman donates her eggs to help someone who is unable to conceive, to conceive. This is typically done through in vitro fertilization technique.

In vitro fertilization is the artificial fertilization of an egg with a sperm that is conducted in a lab. The embryo thus generated is either inserted into the uterus of the mother or stored for later used. This technology is the same one that is used in surrogacy. Alternatively, it could be used by the mother herself if she is fit to carry along the pregnancy.

Reasons

Several causes may lead to women opting for egg donation. The main group who resort to this technique are infertile couples. Sometimes a woman’s eggs can not develop a pregnancy so the need for donation arises. Other reasons include very very low chances of pregnancy, permanent damage to the ovaries, surgical removal of ovaries due to a disease or women who are born without ovaries. Genetic orders may also lead a woman to become infertile.

Donors

Donors may be related to the patient i.e. they are relatives of the parents who want to have the child and are willing to help by donating their eggs.

Donors may also be unrelated to the patient and would be ready to donate their eggs for monetary reasons. These donors can be anonymous, or non-anonymous.

Procedure

First, the egg donor is selected. They give their written consent. Then they have to undergo an IVF stimulation therapy that prepares their uterus for receiving the embryo. After that, the ova are fertilized using the sperm in a laboratory and the resulting embryo is transferred to the uterus of the recipient.

This is the entire procedure of the IVF or what is a surrogate mother.