Donated Sperm, Eggs, and Surrogacy

There are multiple ways that infertile couples, as well as individuals and people of the LGBTQ community can conceive children. Sperm donation, egg donation, and surrogacy are all popular methods for conceiving when one or both partners are infertile or unable to carry a child.

Sperm Donation

You can find sperm from an anonymous donor by going to a fertility clinic. Clinics have their own stock of frozen donated sperm, or they buy it in from a sperm bank. Alternatively, you can use a donor you already know, such as a friend or a donor you have met through an introduction website. You and the donor go to a fertility clinic together, or you can have a private arrangement whereby the donor provides a fresh sperm sample directly to you, often in your home. The sperm will then be combined with the egg through IUI or IVF.

Egg Donation

Utilizing “fresh” or frozen eggs retrieved oocytes from a young, fully screened donor, your fertility doctor directs an IVF cycle that syncs your cycle with that of the egg donor’s. The donor egg is inseminated with your partner’s sperm (or donor sperm) to create an embryo. We then transfer the embryo to the uterus of the intended mother.

Surrogacy

There are two types of surrogacy used by couples or individuals. Traditional surrogacy is when a woman who gets artificially inseminated with the father’s sperm. She then carries the baby and delivers it for you and your partner to raise. A traditional surrogate is the baby’s biological mother because it was her egg that was fertilized by the father’s sperm. Donor sperm can also be used. Gestational surrogates is now possible through IVF. The doctor gathers eggs from the mother, fertilizes them with sperm from the father, then places the embryo into the uterus of a gestational surrogate. The surrogate then carries the baby until birth. She doesn’t have any genetic ties to the child because it wasn’t her egg that was used. In the U.S., gestational surrogacy is less complex legally. That’s because both intended parents have genetic ties to the baby. As a result, gestational surrogacy has become more common than a traditional surrogate. About 750 babies are born each year using gestational surrogacy.