Egg Donation, Ethics of

Egg donation is a process where a woman undergoes oocyte retrieval from the ovaries for the purpose of assisted reproduction or biomedical research. The first use of donor eggs from a human donor occurred in Australia in 1983. The use of egg donation can assist women with infertility, women with congenital absence of eggs, women with reduced ovarian reserve or decreased egg quality, women with X-linked disease, women who have had their ovaries surgically removed, single men, and gay couples. Third-party reproduction is a term used when another party is used either for egg donation or surrogacy to achieve a successful pregnancy. Surrogate mothers can also carry a pregnancy for women when the uterus is absent or for other reasons where the woman cannot carry ...