Can Egg Donors Remain Anonymous?

The service that is given by egg donors in family building is very central to the achievement of many family building goals. When people do not have access to healthy eggs, egg donors fill the  gap with much needed healthy eggs for these people. Once an egg donor goes through the screening process and qualifies to donate their eggs, they enter into a legally binding agreement with the recipients of their eggs. This agreement outlines the role that the egg donor plays in building the recipient’s family. Based on the recipient’s preferences, an egg donor can remain anonymous. This article will be discussing egg donor anonymity, the role it plays in family building, and the factors that could impact anonymity.

Anonymity Laws and Regulations

When egg donor services began, they were strictly anonymous. Egg donors would be screened physically, medically and psychologically prior to donating their eggs. Once they qualify, they would donate their eggs without knowing who would receive them or how many children would be conceived using their eggs. As well, there was no telling if more than one family  used their eggs. Primarily this anonymity was in place to protect the privacy of the recipients at a time when alternative ways of family building and fertility treatments as a whole were still not well understood. 

In recent years, egg donation has grown and legislation regarding family building has also changed to support alternative family building methods that require fertility treatments using donated eggs. While US Federal Law does not have legislation that is unified in regard to egg donor anonymity, individual States do. Therefore just as the laws in place for infertility treatment and family building using assisted reproductive technologies vary, anonymity laws vary from one State to another.

Even in other nations outside of the US, there is varied legislation around egg donor anonymity. These variances exist due to the differences in cultures and collective societal values, including traditions. Overall then, legislation may demand open donation, anonymity, or give rights to children born from egg donation to look for their egg donors once they reach the age of 18. Some legislation may also allow for the release of egg donor information to professional medical practitioners only if crucial to the treatment of egg donor children. 

The trend globally however has been that adults born from egg donation are increasingly advocating for more transparency from egg donor agencies, to give them access to their egg donor’s information. With people seeking to understand their heritage, there are services which could potentially compromise egg donor anonymity. Let us discuss how this can occur in the next section. 

How Technology (DNA Testing) Impacts Privacy

Our global village can now largely be found on platforms online. Any service one desires, be it  government, education, finance, entertainment, hobbies or curious interest can be found on the internet. Services that help people to trace their ancestry have become increasingly popular, as people continually seek to better understand their heritage. 

Services such as these require one to sign up for the service using identifying information. As well, these services provide a sample kit, where applicants can provide a DNA sample such as saliva. The DNA sample is analysed against DNA samples from people who have known heritage. These databases tend to be very large, comprising DNA information from all over the world. 

Let us now look at how this affects egg donor anonymity. When a person born from egg donation seeks to know their genetic ancestry, they will submit identifying information and a DNA sample. If an egg donor seeking to know their genetic ancestry uses the same service,  they will also input identifying information and submit a DNA sample. When these two samples are analysed against each other, they will be a DNA match, allowing the person born from egg donation to identify their egg donor, thus breaking egg donor anonymity. 

As you can see, on one hand, we live in a world where there is legislation around the protection of personal data and privacy, yet on the other hand, there is still a probability for personal information to be accessed by third parties. This creates a complicated narrative where multiple parties are challenged with the ethics around the release or withholding of information.

Summary

Egg donors can remain anonymous as far as their egg donation goes. However, we live in a changed world where there is a tug of war between data privacy, and the need for transparency and accountability. While an egg donor service may honor the need for anonymity from their patients, third party services could potentially create a breach in anonymity. Egg donors can also have open or semi-anonymous donations, whereby the recipients of their eggs have the option of making contact with the egg donor in the future. Egg donors should seek professional legal counsel before signing their contracts, not just in regard to the medical procedures, and financial aspects of their contract, but also with regard to anonymity and its implications.  

If you would like to donate your eggs anonymously and would like to know more about how this works, reach out to our team of experts at the Utah Fertility Center. We are happy to assist you in your egg donation journey and will gladly respond to any queries or concerns you may have. Contact us today, to know if you qualify for egg donation.

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