We are required to follow FDA guidelines for donor eligibility in regards to temporary vs. permanent deferrment of a donor who has an STD. Please read our FDA guideline summary.

We are not able to give medical advice, but we can say that many of our donors have given birth to their own children after donation. Please go to our links page and visit ASRM, AFA and RESOLVE. These are non-profit organizations that deal specifically with fertility issues and third-party reproduction.  They have great information about risks involved with donation as well as information about how a woman’s age and the quality of her eggs affects the ability to become pregnant. **A little motherly advice….YOU shouldn’t wait too long to have your own babies. Medical data shows that the quality of the eggs really begins to diminish after about age 29, and the quality decreases more and more with every year. If you wait too long, your eggs could be of such poor quality that you may not be able to become pregnant, may suffer miscarriages or may have a child with Downs or other issues. Unfortunately, most physicians do not inform women about the risks involved with waiting until we’re older to have children. My average intended mother is a woman who started fertility treatments when she was about age 36 or so, and they try treatment for years before they find they have no choice but to get an egg donor.

We are not able to give medical advice, but we suggest each donor do an internet search about the number of female eggs in the body and how the body treats these eggs on a monthly basis.  Here is the basic information: it is true that females are born with a finite number of eggs (approximately 1 million +/-) and by the time a young girl begins puberty the number has already decreased significantly (approximately 400, 000 +/-). The number of eggs produced during a monthly cycle varies from female to female; however, the average number is 10-20. Some women produce more per month and others less. Every month the ovaries produce a varying number of potential eggs for fertilization, but every month the body also generally selects only one of those eggs to become the “lead follicle”. This egg is selected by the body to be the one that will be used for ovulation that month. The other eggs stop growing and are absorbed or discarded by the body. If the lead egg is not fertilized it will dry up and will also be expelled by the body. An egg donor cycle does not use more eggs than the body would have produced for that particular month; rather fertility stimulating medications are used to grow as many of those available eggs as possible. So, egg donation is a great way of putting to good use the number of eggs that would have been flushed away for that month!

Yes and No. Every egg donor will be represented by separate legal counsel, and the fee for the attorney is paid by the IP. APM maintains a list of attorneys who specialize in third party reproduction law, and donors are given the list to select from. If a donor has an attorney she knows personally and would like to have represent her, then that attorney may be approved by APM provided this person has had 3+ years experience working with egg donation and surrogacy contracts. APM and the IPs maintain the right to not approve of any attorney we have not worked directly with even though a donor may desire to have this person represent her. Our goal is to have the donor fully represented in the area of egg donation law, and an attorney who does not practice this type of law as the main portion of their practice will not be adequately informed of all the issues that surround this constantly changing field of law. A donor may choose to have someone other than an APM approved attorney review her contract; however, we only pay for one reviewing attorney to represent the donor, so if a donor chooses to have a personal friend or other attorney also review the egg donation contract, the entire cost of additional legal advice would be the donor’s responsibility to pay.

APM cannot give legal or tax advice, and we recommend that each matched egg donor contact either a CPA or a tax attorney to have this question answered. We can say that at this time we do not send any donor a 1099, though many IVF center programs will do that with their own donors. The contract is generally written that the compensation paid is for “pain and suffering”, so it will often times be looked at much like an insurance settlement, though we absolutely cannot guarantee that will be the case. We always suggest the egg donor save a portion of her compensation in case the IRS begins to look at donation differently than they have to date.  The egg donor may also want to have a CPA or tax attorney look at the language in the egg donation contract before language is finalized in the agreement.

If you agree to donate for a family located in another part of the country you will be required to travel. The length of time is dependent upon the protocol of the IVF center, and they all have varied protocols. Most centers require donors to be at the IVF center on day 6 or 7 of their 12-14 day donor cycle; however, there are a few center which require the donor to be there starting with day 1 of the 12-14 day cycle. If you are required to be there on day 5 or 6 of the cycle, the IVF center may still require some blood work on day 3 and possibly blood work and ultrasound on day 5. This monitoring can be done near your home and the results will be sent to the IVF center. The cost of travel is paid by the Intended Parents and includes flights, hotel, ground transportation and a meal allowance. (Please read Donor Info for more details)

The answer to this question will depend on the protocol of the IVF center chosen by the intended parents. If the medical protocol calls for a Lupron cycle, the egg donor is generally on medications (not counting birth control) for approximately 3-4 weeks. If the medical protocol is for a cetritide/aygestin cycle, the egg donor is generally on medications (not counting birth control) for approximately 12-14 days. Not every egg donor cycle will follow the same exact protocol because each IVF center determines which protocol they believe will bring the best results for the egg donor and intended parents. Once a donor is matched, we will know which IVF center will be used, and we will be able to inform the donor which protocol they generally use.

Yes, APM does allow for the egg donation process to be as anonymous or open as all the parties desire. We have IPs who have no intention of ever telling the child he/she was created through egg donation, but we also have IPs who fully intend to share the egg donation experience with their child, and they would like to know that the egg donor is open to a future meeting with the child. We have parties speak via a conference call or even meet in person, yet they may still remain anonymous by not sharing identifying or contact information. Other times, the parties desire to have a more open relationship and make the decision to share full names, phone numbers and email addresses. These types of relationships occur most often when there is a family wanting future contact, or with a gay couple that feels the need to be able to have their future children know more about the woman who helped create them. IPs who want a more “open” donation generally feel it is important to maintain some limited contact with the egg donor so that as the child grows older they can help the child receive answers to their questions. No egg donor is ever obligated to enter into this type of donation…it is truly their own decision, and it doesn’t have any effect on your ability to be matched with other APM families.

APM receives most of our Intended Parents through reputable IVF centers throughout the nation, and they have been working with the infertile families for a number of years. The families are physically and psychologically screened just as an egg donor would be. We will be able to share if they are married or single; we can share their age; we can share the name of their IVF center; and we can share any other information the IPs have given permission to share…perhaps educational background, etc., or in the case of open donation we are also able to provide names and contact information. The Intended Parents (IPs) are also required to fill out our “Intended Parent Questionnaire” as part of the APM matching process. This document contains a lot of identifying information that can be used for a background check, though at this time APM does not require a background check for our IPs. The questionnaire contains a section that may be shared with donors who ask specific questions about the IPs, their relationship, their infertility journey, their desired traits for a donor, their plans for any children born through donation, etc. In general, this document is not received by APM until there has been an “official match” between the IPs and an egg donor. If a donor wants to see this portion of the questionnaire, she must request it in writing by email or fax, and we will send this portion only. We also welcome our donors to either email questions to us, or to engage in a conference call with the IPs so the egg donor and IP can get to know each other better. Any conference call is placed through our office so phone numbers do not show up on caller ID. At no point is any identifying information shared about either party without permission from both parties.

The match time is dependent on the specific families who are looking for an egg donor at the time we receive your completed application. There are times when we match a donor on the first day she is presented to families, but other times the wait may be a few months. Our families are from all around the world and all across the nation; therefore, they are very varied in their ethnicity and desired characteristics. The matching of an IP and donor isn’t as simple as matching just SAT, or coloring…it is about helping our IPs find the “connection” with a donor. A family is essentially “inviting” the genetics and personality of the egg donor into their family, and the IPs want to know they are choosing someone who will match them and their values in as many ways possible. My favorite match example: The intended mother and donor both went to the same university; they belonged to the same sorority; they were both nationally ranking in the same sport, AND they looked so much alike that you absolutely would have thought they were close relatives….they were a perfect match! This is the type of match our families seek whenever possible.

APM requires an extensive prescreening of our egg donors. After we receive the completed application and genetic questionnaire, they are reviewed by our donor coordinator, and the CEO of APM. If we have further questions about any of the answers on the profile application or the genetic questionnaire, we will contact the egg donor candidate for further clarification. If the initial profile and genetic questionnaire meets our standards for physical and psychological health, we will accept a donor into our program, and we will begin presenting her to our infertile families (IPs) immediately.