Egg Donor Counselling: What we'll discuss & why

All Manchester Donors egg donors have counselling with our accredited fertility counselling team as part of the egg donation process. But what do we talk about? And importantly, what do you talk about as the egg donor?

Counselling is mandatory for all our egg donors. In line with HFEA guidelines, all licensed clinics must offer it. And although you may think you don’t need it, counselling addresses all the implications of egg donation that you may not even have thought about – including how your donation could affect those within your own family.

Since the law was changed in 2005 to allow donor-conceived people the right to apply for identifying details about their donor when they turn 18, donating eggs has the potential to have a long-term impact not just on you, but your partner, existing children and wider family group including even parents.

So although your counselling session is completely confidential, if you wish to you can bring along a partner or family member, to help ensure you’re making the right decision for you and your family.

During your counselling sessions, we’ll ask you to carefully consider things like:

• How you would feel if the person using your eggs has a baby 

• That there is the possibility of contact in future from a donor-conceived person who was born using your eggs, and how you feel about that, and if you have any concerns 

• What your responsibilities are as an egg donor, and the fact that although you have a genetic link to any child born, you’re not the legal parent and have no claim or financial or moral obligation 

• How you would feel if a donor-conceived person decides not to apply to HFEA to find out about you 

• What your family thinks about your decision to donate – especially in the case of existing children, your partner or parents: how do they all feel about you helping to create a child that you’re biologically linked to, but who they may never meet 

• That you’ll never meet the people who will be using your eggs to have a family – anonymity is intact between donor and recipients 

• If you’re egg-sharing and donating eggs for subsidised IVF, how you may feel if your recipient’s treatment is successful using your eggs, but your own treatment fails  

• That there are many types of people who may need to use your eggs: single women; same-sex couples; couples with fertility issues – and that you can’t be selective in who receives your eggs 

At Manchester Donors your care and wellbeing is our priority; it’s our responsibility to ensure that our egg donors are always fully informed about all the likely consequences of donating their eggs.

And if during counselling you decide egg donation isn’t right for you after all, there’s no need to be worried. This is what counselling is for.

It’s important that we only accept women into our egg donor programme who are completely happy and comfortable being identifiable and traceable egg donors, and all that this entails – both now and in the future.

If you’re aged 18-35 and would like to join Manchester Donors and donate your eggs altruistically for £750 compensation, or through egg-sharing for cheaper IVF, apply online here.

You can also read more about the egg donation process, egg donation FAQs and our useful egg donation blog resource. If you have any questions at all, our team is happy to help – just call 0161 300 2734.