Key points of topic
- Embryo donation from a third party is one option for women or couples who can’t produce a healthy embryo on their own or through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
- Reasons a patient or couple may need a donated embryo to use with IVF include poor egg or sperm quality (or both), genetic or physical conditions or advanced age.
- Embryo donation can also assist those who otherwise need to use donor eggs or donor sperm to create an embryo, such as a single parent or LGBTQ+ couple.
- Third-party assisted reproduction, also called third-party fertility, is a form of assisted reproduction using a third person outside of the intended parents as an egg donor, sperm donor, embryo donor or as a gestational carrier.
At Ember, everyone is a VIP – very important patient
And we have a thing for the small things: Each Ember patient gets a dedicated fertility coordinator, a patient’s personal care guide through every clinic detail, from the very first phone call to meeting your little miracle.
What is embryo donation?
Embryo donation is a third-party reproduction option in which another couple or an individual donates an existing frozen embryo to a couple or person for implantation and pregnancy. Such embryos become available when more than one embryo results from an IVF process. These extra embryos can be used by the couple who created them in a later pregnancy, donated to others in need of embryo or to research, or discarded.
Ember’s fertility specialist discusses this option with infertility patients in great detail, explaining the regulations for screening, testing and counseling that embryo donors and recipients must follow.
Embryo donation is part of our third-party reproduction services (third-party fertility)
Third-party reproduction is used when prospective parents or individuals need the help of another person in combination with certain fertility treatments to have a child. Third-party reproduction typically includes using sperm, eggs or embryos donated by a third person that will be used in IVF procedures to achieve pregnancy for the intended parent(s). In third-party fertility, a gestational carrier (a form of surrogacy) can sometimes be required to carry a pregnancy.
Such third-party assistance enables couples or individuals experiencing infertility to have a child they could otherwise not achieve. LGBTQ+ individuals and couples and single intended parents who are not experiencing infertility can also benefit from our third-party reproduction services.
Using donated embryos with IVF
Using a donated embryo means that the resulting child would not have the genes of either recipient parent. But the mother will carry the pregnancy and the couple will experience the joys of that and childbirth.
Our center partners with Snowflakes embryo donation program that will assist patients in finding a donated embryo to use in IVF treatment.
Who should consider embryo donation for pregnancy?
Couples in which the male and female have fertility issues preventing them from creating an embryo naturally or through IVF are candidates for donated embryos.
LGBTQ+ couples and individuals and single mothers with ovulation problems can also benefit from embryo donation.
