Would You Donate YourEggs?

Guest post contributed by Melissa

Lately I've been thinking about something that I've never given much thought to in the past- becoming an egg donor. I must admit, this thought first crossed my mind when thinking of some ways in which to make a quick buck. I ended up realizing that there are, of course, plenty of great reasons to become an egg donor (as well as risks), the most important reason being that you're helping out a family who otherwise would not be able to have a baby on their own. The risks, unfortunately, did outweigh the benefits for me personally in the end. Not only are there certain medical risks involved in the procedure, but there are certain social issues involved in egg donation as well that I wasn't able to get past. For example, how would you really feel knowing you had a child out there that wasn't legally yours? For me, this felt entirely too, for lack of a better word, strange. Even stranger is the unlikely scenario that this child may one day meet, fall in love with, and decide to have children with someone that they do not realize is part of their family. These, again, are social/psychological issues that I am not comfortable with. However, I still firmly believe that, for those that can get past these things, becoming an egg donor is certainly an option.

For those that have preliminarily decided they may be a good candidate to become an egg donor, it is, of course, extremely important to learn more about the process. There are restrictions that must be adhered to while going through the process. For some, these restrictions may be very easily adhered to. Others may want to know the answer to the question “How long is the egg donation process?” before determining whether or not they're able to adhere to the restrictions. A nice, unbiased, general source to get you started is Wikipedia's page on egg donation. From there, it is always helpful to seek out other women's testimonials, but in the end it is a choice you have to make yourself.