Michelle Emblenton, biochemist at inviTRA, tells us what IVF with egg and sperm donation consists of:
IVF with donor sperm and donor eggs is an assisted reproduction technique in which both the man and the woman give up the idea of passing the genetic load of their gametes onto their children. The donation of gamets is legal in most countries and each individual country, or perhaps state if you are in the US, have their own laws governing this.
In many countries, the donation of eggs and spem is an anonymous and altruistic process and you cannot choose your donor. In the United States you may be able to choose your donor. The general rules do require that donors are in very good health and are young, usually between 21 and 30 years of age. They have to undergo a series of special requirements, have good psychological and physical health, they need to have a karotype test and check there are no genetic diseases in their medical history.
There is also the requirement, generally, that the donor must not have any more than six children born from their eggs or sperm. In an anonymous donation it is the clinic themselves that will choose the egg and the sperm donor based on certain characteristics of the recipient couple, such as what they look like and immunological factors such as blood groups.
Egg and sperm donors will be financially compensated for their inconvenience, which will increase the cost of the treatment. Indeed, if you have a known egg or sperm donor, you may have to pay more for the particular egg or sperm you are using, if you are in the United States for example.
