Involving Your Partner in Egg Donor Counselling

If you want to be an egg donor,counselling is a mandatory requirement of the egg donation process. But it’s not something we want you to do alone.

At Manchester Donors we actively encourage you to include your partner in your counselling sessions. This is because egg donation can affect everyone in a family – not just you as the egg donor.

If your donated eggs are successfully used and a baby is born, the donor-conceived person has the right to apply for identifying information about you from the HFEA’s Register when they turn 18 years old, if they wish to know who you are.

This means there’s the potential for contact in future years, which if it happens won’t just affect you but your partner, existing children and parents.

So you can see why there needs to be a serious wide discussion as part of the egg donation process, way before any egg donation takes place.

Questions your counsellor may ask when you’re donating eggs

Our counsellors are highly-experienced in helping potential donors truly understand the implications of egg donation. They’ll ask you questions such as: 

-       Why you want to donate eggs in the first place  - to ensure you have the right motivations 

-       How your partner and family feel about you donating eggs – remember resulting donor-conceived children will be genetically-related to your parents and your own siblings and wider family too

-       How you will feel in future if a donor-conceived person contacts you – and how you’ll feel if they don’t. It’s up to the donor-conceived person to get in touch with you. Some people may never know they’re donor-conceived. 

-       How you may discuss your decision with any children you already have – or may be planning to have if you’re donating eggs through egg-sharing and having IVF. If your recipient is successful, it means your children will have genetically-related siblings they may never meet.

Informed and transparent egg donation

As a National Gamete Donation Trust Centre of Excellence for egg donation, you’ll find that egg donation with us is always an informed and transparent process. So we can ensure you truly understand its implications and are confident and happy to consent to donate eggs before you’re accepted into our programme.

Donate eggs with Manchester Donors

If you’re considering egg donation, have a chat to our Donation Team on 0161 300 2734 or apply online and we’ll be in touch. To be an egg donor you must fulfil criteria relating to age, health and medical history.

We’ll also be at the Fertility Show Manchester 24-25 March. Come and meet the Manchester Donors team at stand B10! Book your tickets online here.