The Heart of Egg Donation: Is the Child Biologically Mine?
Around the world, there are remarkable and selfless women who are willing to donate their eggs to help others fulfill their dream of having a child. However, many women who consider donating eggs often ask if the child conceived with their donated eggs will be biologically theirs.
From a biological perspective, egg donation involves the use of two cells, an egg cell, and a sperm cell, to create an embryo. Each of these cells contributes half of the genetic material necessary for the embryo’s development, which determines a child’s characteristics, such as hair and eye color, height, and more. A child born from donated eggs may resemble the egg donor or look entirely different. During pregnancy, the baby’s genes can be expressed, silenced or turned off, affected by the mother’s environmental cues.
In terms of a legal perspective, egg donation is always anonymous, and by law, egg donation agencies must maintain the anonymity of both the egg donor and the recipient. Egg donors have no legal rights, obligations, or responsibilities for the children born from their donations. Additionally, a donor egg baby is legally the child of the birth mother, not the egg donor.
From a human perspective, donating eggs has no negative effect on a woman’s ability to conceive in the future. Many women postpone starting a family, and the quality and quantity of their eggs begin to decline from age 35. Therefore, egg donation is becoming increasingly necessary for many thousands of women who are unable to have a baby with their own eggs. Millions of couples worldwide have been able to experience the joy of having their child with the help of egg donors.
Women who conceive with donated eggs consider themselves the biological mothers of their babies. Although they are grateful for the egg donors’ generosity, they believe that the love and bond they share with their children are not affected by the fact that their babies were conceived using an egg from a donor.
If you are willing to nurture the dream of someone else having a child come true by donating your eggs, rest assured that it will not make you the mother of the baby conceived. It will, however, make you part of a beautiful story in which you helped a couple you may never know have a child of their own.
