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What’s the Difference Between Anonymous, Semi-Known, and Known Egg Donation

Choosing between Anonymous, Semi-Known and Known Egg Donation

Making the choice to use an egg donor to grow your family is a big decision. We understand that it can sometimes be an emotional time for intended parents and can feel overwhelming. For other intended parents, this is a time of great excitement and perhaps a bit of confusion. Similarly, if you are considering becoming an egg donor, it’s important to understand the different types of donation so you make the choices that are most comfortable for you, and you are matched with similarly-minded parents. To help get you started, let’s take a look at the three types of egg donors.

Anonymous Egg Donors

Truly anonymous egg donations are becoming quite rare. In this set up you would most likely be working with an egg bank. You would know very little about the woman whose eggs you’d be purchasing. You may receive a handwritten note and potentially childhood photos, but that would be it. There would be no option for meeting, and your future children would not have the ability to meet their biological mother in the future.

Semi-Known Egg Donors

A semi-known donor relationship is one where one party will have information about the other, but this information trade is not reciprocal. This is typically the case when working with an egg donation agency. As an intended parent, you will be supplied with a plethora of information about your egg donor, often including photos of her from childhood through adulthood, her medical records, and in some cases, even a video where she explains her motives for considering egg donation. Conversely, this egg donor will not be given any information about you or your family. In many cases, the donors will not want any children born as a result of their donation to be able to contact them in the future.

This method allows you a closer look into the life of your egg donor and gives you a glimpse at personality habits and visual traits that could be passed on to your child.

Known Egg Donors

A known egg donor is someone that you will meet prior to the donation. This can include sisters, friends, aunts, and co-workers. It can also include people that you met through an agency with the singular purpose of egg donation. For the purposes of this blog, let’s assume that your known donor is someone you knew prior to starting this process − someone like a sister or friend.

The obvious benefit to working with a known donor is that they typically agree to donation altruistically- meaning without compensation. While you’ll still be responsible for all medical costs associated with the donation, you may be able to save a lot of money by working with someone you know who would be happy to help you at either a greatly discounted rate, or for free.

Before deciding to work with a known donor, however, you should consider a few things. One is that this is a person with whom you have an existing relationship. You’ll want to consider how an egg donation could alter that relationship, especially when you need to ask very personal questions about their private lives. In addition, you’ll want to consider what role this person will have in your child’s life as he/she grows.

Are you thinking about becoming a egg donor?

Check out these resources to find out if egg donation is the right step for you. Wondering if egg donation will affect your future fertility and the ability to have a baby of your own one day after you donate your eggs? Click here to find out more on the topic, and what he experts are saying about fertility after egg donation. Would you make an ideal egg donor? Click here to see the top 5 things that we look for in our egg donors at Family Inceptions.

Are you ready to get your journey to find your perfect egg donor started? If you have additional questions about the types of egg donors, we’d be happy to speak with you. We offer free consultations with a compassionate, no pressure approach to family building. To schedule yours call us anytime at 844-404-BABY.

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Eloise Drane
Eloise Drane, Founder

"I believe that we are all placed on this earth for a purpose. Each one of us has a specific calling in this world and although it is different for everyone, we are here to serve one another. My purpose is to help women who wish to become surrogates and egg donors and the hopeful parents who wish to partner with them. I feel very lucky to be living my purpose."