Who Benefits From Egg Donation and Surrogacy?

Third-party reproduction, aka services like egg donation, gestational surrogacy, and sperm donation, have helped build countless families across the country. Most people know the basics about these services, though there are still many misconceptions that exist, even today, which impair our overall understanding of not only how third-party reproduction works, but who it benefits. Fertility Source Companies help build families via egg donation and surrogacy, so we work with both sides of these arrangements every day. We know what it means to the growing families who connect with an egg donor or surrogate in order to (finally) have a child. 

Who benefits from egg donation?

There are a number of situations in which a couple or individual looking to have a child would be in need of an egg donor. The situation most people are familiar with is where there is a case of female factor infertility. Female fertility is complex, there are many different reasons why female factor infertility can develop, though one of the most common is the quantity and quality of the individual’s eggs. Women are born with a set number of eggs, though this number changes over the course of their lifetime. Female fertility peaks around age 25 and begins to decline around age 35; however, this is just a general statistic, women can be born with or develop fertility issues as they grow older. All this being said, if a couple tries to conceive but cannot due to a female factor, then an egg donor could be needed. 

Another situation where egg donation is required is for same-sex male couples looking to grow their families. In a same-sex male couple, both an egg donor and gestational surrogate are needed. The donated eggs and sperm from one of the male partners are used within a fertility clinic’s laboratory to create an embryo that is later implanted in a gestational surrogate. 

This is also the case for male single parents. Single parenthood for men will need the same process as it would for a same-sex male couple – an egg donor and gestational surrogate. 

Who benefits from surrogacy?

Just as egg donation can help a couple experiencing female factor infertility, so can surrogacy. There are cases of female infertility where a woman is able to achieve a pregnancy, but her body is not able to carry and deliver the baby. These are situations where recurrent miscarriages and other complications occur. In such situations, it is possible for the female intended parent to provide her own egg which would be used alongside the male intended parents’ sperm to create the embryo which would be implanted in the surrogate’s uterus; so the parents could have a child that is biologically theirs, even if the female partner cannot carry or deliver the child. 

Surrogacy is also immensely helpful for same-sex family building and single male parents. In coordination with egg donation, surrogates will carry and deliver the child created from the male intended parent’s sperm and a donor egg. 

Without third-party reproduction, so many who long for a child could be left without alternative options in order to grow their families. This is why each and every egg donor and gestational surrogate is so highly admired and respected for their decision to offer their time, energy, and reproductive abilities to those in need.