By Reproclinic Editorial Committee

Are you worried about the egg donors selection and the medical tests that take place? Our egg donors undergo strict medical controls, even above those required by Spanish law. We tell you everything about it in this post.

Fertility is an issue that increasingly concerns the population. There are several reasons that favor the need to resort to an egg donor to be able to have a baby, in addition to sterility problems:

• The increase of second couples who wish to have children at more advanced ages
• The increase of the average age of a woman in which she receives her first child
• Male couples who want to have a child and need an egg donor

One of the most frequent doubts in our Barcelona clinic is how ovum egg donors are chosen. Our egg donors undergo a series of strict medical and psychological tests, as well as personal interviews that enable them to be egg donors and maximize the compatibility with our patients.

What tests must Reproclinic egg donors do?

Egg donors are usually between 18 and 35 years old, have good physical and mental health, no infectious diseases and no family history of any transmissible genetic disease.

The first step that a potential donor makes is to go to the clinic, where one of our experts will perform a personal interview in which they will be asked about their medical history, they will be asked for information on their own and family illnesses, operations performed, lifestyle, etc.

Through this first personal contact and the different strategic questions we will ask, we will confirm if the possible donor has good psychological capacities to be a egg donor, and discard from the first moment young people with known genetic problems.

In the second step, through an exhaustive blood analysis, we observe the general state of health, the karyotype (status of its chromosomes) and we study whether it is a healthy carrier of more than 300 genetic diseases.

The third step is a complete gynecological review where we examine the state of the ovaries and the reproductive system, making sure that it is in an optimal condition.

Once the egg donors have satisfactorily passed all the medical, genetic and psychological tests, they’ll be able to donate eggs.

What does the Spanish law say about egg donors?

The Spanish law is restrictive against potential egg donors, ensuring the absence of genetic, hereditary or infectious diseases. According to the current legislation – art. 5 of Law 26/2011, on techniques of assisted human reproduction, it says:

“Donors must be over 18 years of age, have good psychophysical health and have full capacity to act. Their psychophysical state must meet the requirements of a mandatory protocol for the study of donors that will include its phenotypic and psychological characteristics, as well as the clinical conditions and analytical determinations necessary to demonstrate, according to the state of knowledge of existing science and technology at the time of its realization, that the donors do not suffer genetic, hereditary or infectious diseases transmissible to offspring. “

Spanish law also determines the donation to be totally anonymous and altruistic. In other words, the identity of the egg donor or the recipient of the ovules will under no circumstances be known. In addition, being a disinterested act, it is not allowed to pay the donor of the eggs, but it can be compensated for the inconvenience and displacement. This fact significantly reduces the cost of an egg donation treatment with respect to treatments in other countries.