Due to disease, I rely on an egg cell donation to have children (I am in my twenties). I am aware that there are many fertility clinics in various countries which offer egg cell donation. However, I have not yet found a solution I feel comfortable with, for the following reasons. First, I have found that fertility clinics typically match donors and recipients based on phenotype, which does not mean much to me. However, feeling connected to the donor regarding values feels important to me, which is why I post in this forum. Second, by accepting a donation, I do not want to exploit anyone. I would like to know that the donation will not only be an immense gift to me, but that the donor also experiences happiness from sharing her genetic material.
Do you have any ideas how I could go about finding a donor in the EA community? Also, I was wondering if anyone in the community has ever donated or considered donating? If yes, what were or would be your motives, and would you be open to donation in a setting where you would know to which specific person the donation goes to?
Hi linn!
Which country are you in? I have been putting a lot of thought into becoming an egg donor in the UK over the past few months and am currently in the evaluation process for one egg bank and one matching service.
First I would like to note that while most matching services primarily match on phenotype, there certainly are some where you get a detailed profile from the potential donors. I would be happy to tell you the name of the matching agency in the UK that I have been working with which strongly encourages getting a good personality match.
I would expect finding a donor directly from the EA community to be much harder, but maybe someone will respond to your request (but it would be good to know where you live!). Feel free to PM to chat more.
I have seen a few EAs discuss selling eggs as a way of earning-to-give. If you’re not willing to compensate at market rates, getting a donation may be a bit more difficult, but I don’t expect it to be impossible.
If I were to look for an egg cell donor, I would probably make some sort of a post or Google Doc outlining exactly the type of person you’re looking for, what you’d expect from them, and what you’re willing to compensate. Then sharing it on some EA platforms—I imagine you could generate some leads from Bountied Rationality, LessWrong, some EA Facebook groups (e.g. EA Hangout), maybe local EA groups, and perhaps the Forum.
You would need to check the legality of this however—this is illegal in at least a few European countries, including the UK and Germany.
Interesting! Didn’t know that.
Hi Marisa. Thank you for your suggestions. I am not generally opposed to compensating the donor financially, but it would be important for me that it is not a “starve-or-donate-your-eggs” kind of decision for her. I would like to know that the donor feels some intrinsic motivation to offer this kind of help. So in sum I could see myself buying egg cells in an ETG-like setting.
Yes, I will have to check how I can best approach this without violating any laws.
Hey Linn, I wrote you a private response with thoughts about this :)