Intended Parent Q&A

Egg donation is the process by which a woman (egg donor) donates eggs to enable another individual or couple to become parents as part of an assisted reproduction treatment. In an egg donation IVF cycle, donor eggs are fertilized in the IVF lab using the partner’s sperm (or donor sperm, if necessary) and the resulting embryos are transferred to the recipient’s uterus.

There are a variety of factors that contribute to the cost of egg donation. Connect with a PureOvum Coordinator to learn more about our agency fees, the approximate costs for an egg donor, as well as the medical fees for egg retrieval, medications, and IVF embryo transfer.

PureOvum egg donors set their own compensation for each cycle. It is not negotiable. We adhere to the ASRM guidelines regarding egg donor’s compensation.

The PureOvum egg donor database is available to view after approved registration. We will provide you with a login/password that grants you full access to donor profiles that include pictures, ancestry, education, personality assessments, genetic carrier screening, psychological screening, and medical history.

Set, ready, GO! With PureOvum, intended parents get a head start with our pre-screened donors — initial medical screening and genetic carrier screening. The vital tests they would eventually need to complete as part of their medical screening process is already completed.

Genetic carrier screening will helps our intended parents understand the risk of passing on a genetic condition to their child. The test analyzes the donor’s DNA and tells us if she is a carrier for a genetic condition that could be passed down to a child. The majority of individuals who complete a genetic carrier screening ARE, in fact, a carrier of a genetic condition. Becoming knowledgeable of this information allows our intended parents to choose a donor who has a negative carrier screen and a donor who has a carrier screening that is an appropriate match with their sperm sources.

IF a donor is positive, their MD will test their sperm source (partner, donor, etc) to make sure he isn’t also a carrier.

In most egg donor programs, the donor is considered non-identified. However, in some cases, we can arrange a confidential conference call or face-to-face meeting IF the donor agrees.

Our egg donors all provide extensive information that includes pictures, personal and family medical history, education and employment background, character traits and much more. Once you have access to the egg donor database, you will be able to view all this information as well as all their pictures.

When out-of-state or international egg donors apply to the PureOvum egg donor program, we inform them that travel is required in order to get selected for egg donation process.

Currently at PureOvum, we only use fresh-cycle donor eggs. Fresh-cycle donor eggs are not shared, provide a better chance of being able to have biological siblings, significantly improve fertilization rates and may allow you to freeze extra embryos for later use.

You are welcome to select/match with your egg donor before you establish with your fertility doctor, but you will need a fertility clinic/doctor prior to any donor screening or the donor’s cycle. We strongly recommend that all patients establish with a fertility clinic/doctor before they confirm a match with their donor to ensure that the donor is an appropriate candidate for that specific recipient.