Egg, Sperm and Embryo Donation
In fertility, donation refers to a third-party male providing sperm, a third-party female providing eggs or a third-party couple providing embryos to another person or couple who cannot get pregnant without donated material. In addition to offering donor selection services, LLU Center for Fertility also offers an in-house egg donor program, where women can donate their eggs. Below, is a list of our online resources for each service.
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When are egg, sperm and embryo donation used?
Sperm donation is often used in artificial insemination, which involves placing the donated sperm in a woman’s uterus (through intrauterine insemination), or it may involve adding the sperm to a woman’s eggs outside of the body in an IVF treatment.
Egg donation involves using donor eggs, either provided by a recipient’s family member or friend for free, or purchased, in an IVF cycle. Donated eggs are first fertilized through IVF using the male partner’s sperm (or donated sperm) to create embryos, which are then implanted into the uterus of the recipient mother.
Embryo donation uses an embryo from a third party (another woman’s egg fertilized by another man’s sperm) that has been created through the IVF process. In many cases, individuals who have also undergone fertility treatment will donate their unused embryos for another person or couple’s use. The embryo can then be implanted into the recipient mother so she can become pregnant and give birth.