With Growing Families annual surrogacy & Donor information day coming up in London conference organiser Sam Everingham looks at the complicated issue of egg donor availability
With increasing numbers of women now much older when they first tackle IVF, egg donation and sometimes surrogacy are becoming key needs.
Aggie is of Asian heritage, living in the UK. She wants a known donor, but all the UK clinics can offer are faceless donor profiles of donors who agree a child can contact them when they are eighteen years old. And Asian donors in the UK? Forget it.
Stella & Rob needed an Asian donor and a surrogate, but could not afford the US. Fresh eggs were available in Malaysia, so Rob traveled there to make embryos. The process failed, so instead he flew to Slovakia, to a clinic with a far larger pool of frozen Asian donor eggs.
In retrospect, Rob recognises, while he had been unsure about frozen eggs, it proved easy to ‘order extra’ to ensure they had four well-tested embryo. Not confident of the surrogacy options in Europe, they organised the embryos to be shipped to ………………… Argentina.
The increase in demand is not limited to heterosexuals. Vjeko is a Croatian gay intended dad. He too is keen on a known rather than anonymous egg donor. For Vjeko and his partner, this meant two years of wrangling with donor providers in Ukraine and finally Georgia. They finally found what they were looking for and their surrogate is 14 weeks pregnant.
There are thousands of couples each year from a range of cultural backgrounds who desperately seek donor eggs that resemble them. But for many, there is a problem. Egg donation is not common in Muslim, Indian, and Asian communities. To make it harder, both India and many Asian countries make it nearly impossible to export eggs internationally.
It was easier when these countries were available for commercial surrogacy, but bans for their own citizens and foreigners means accessing their donors has become increasingly difficult. Some entrepreneurs have recently claimed to have solved the paperwork puzzle of exporting embryos from India, allowing them to be shipped to countries that allow surrogacy.
And what about the children created in such roundabout ways? Global citizens from birth? Genetically confused? Early disclosure to children about their genetic origins is key. Growing Families 17 March London information day will feature not only expert advice from doctors, surrogates, and parents but also a panel of donor-conceived young adults.
Designed to give you realistic expectations and help you navigate the options, the London information day is a chance to come together to support journeys to parenthood. It will focus particularly on donor options, as well as surrogacy in Europe, North America, and emerging options in Argentina and for the first time Ghana. There have been huge changes in costs, availability, and other issues in the last year alone, around the globe. So whether you are part way along, or still considering options, don’t miss this once-yearly opportunity.
You can find full information here.
London Event:
Growing Families UK Europe Event
Sunday 21 April 2024
9.30am to 4.30pm
Wellcome Collection,
Euston 183 Euston Rd, London NW1 2BE
Fulfilling your family-building Dream
Featuring local and international IVF experts who will discuss intended parents’ surrogacy and donor IVF options. Giving you the chance to ask your tough questions.
