Embryo donation can help change the lives of those who want children and requires minimal legal work. Here is what to include in an embryo donation contract.
What is Embryo Donation?
Once IVF is completed, sometimes there are leftover embryos. As opposed to getting rid of the embryos or donating them for research purposes, they can be donated to others to help give them a family.
What is required to Donate Embryos?
Oftentimes, embryo donation agreements are required by fertility clinics to document the transfer of ownership of the embryos. Those involved in the agreement are the donors or those who are the creators of the embryos or the intended parents or the recipients of the donated embryos.
The major overlap between embryo agreements is that the donors are not the legitimate parents of the child. All parties must agree that the donors should not have access to the children nor do they maintain any form of custody over them. Moreover, they maintain no financial obligations towards the child. Embryo donation contracts differ on a case-by-case basis given that every party’s intentions will differ.
The parties contract will respond to the following questions:
- Is the child able to meet the donors at some point in the future?
- Are the donors going to provide updated medical information if their health changes?
- Who is entitled to know about the embryo donation?
- In the case that the donors have another child later on will the intended parents be notified?
- Who is the carrier of the child?
- Is there a surrogate involved?
- Are the donors interested in being notified in the case that the child develops a disease or disorder that has the potential to be hereditary?
- Are the donors also donating to another couple or person simultaneously?
Related: Mistakes Couples Using an Egg Donor Should Avoid
Requirements to Be an Egg Donor
In order to be an egg donor, one must:
- Complete basic fertility and gynecological exams which often include pelvic exams, gynecological exams, transvaginal ultrasounds, blood tests, sexually transmitted disease testing, and sometimes genetic testing
- Be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-nine
- Maintain adequate physical and emotional health
- Maintain a regular menstrual cycle
- Not have smoked in the past 12 months
- Be willing to consume injectable medication
- Have no history of drug use or sexually transmitted disease within the last year
- Refrain from getting tattoos or body piercing six months before the process
- Main an egg donation cycle
- Be listed with an agency as an available donor for at least 6 months
Related: How Much Does Using an Egg Donor Cost?
What Can Cause Disqualification of Being an Egg Donor?
Harmful lifestyles such as excessive smoking or a history of heavy drug use, health concerns such as irregular periods, obesity, or genetic disorders, the use of certain forms of contraception such as depo-provera, one being unable to attend the required scheduled appointments.
What to Consider When Thinking of Being an Embryo Donor
Many requirements must be fulfilled to ensure one adequately serves an egg donor. It is also recommended that one does not fulfill over six donations in their lifetime (refer to the egg donation guidelines recommended by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine).
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