Egg donation is one choice for couples looking for gay fertility options
The Southern California Center for Reproductive Medicine is proud to support the LGBTQ community. One way we do this is by offering gay fertility options for men. Some of the choices that Robert E. Anderson MD and Don Royster MD offer at our Southern California fertility center include donor egg IVF with gestational surrogacy.
Donor egg IVF is the primary gay fertility option
When gay couples wish to have a child who is biologically related to one of them, our Southern California fertility center will discuss donor egg options. The doctor works with couples to explain the process of donor egg IVF.
- First, the future father or fathers must find the ideal egg donor. Patients can use an anonymous egg donor through an egg donation agency. Or they can ask a friend or a family member to be a donor.
- Once the couple selects their egg donor, the doctor will perform a cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donor eggs and sperm from one or both fathers to create embryos.
It is important to understand the surrogacy process and egg donation
When gay couples select egg donation as a family-building tool, our Southern California fertility center will initiate a conversation about surrogacy. A gestational surrogate will carry the pregnancy after the egg donor provides her eggs.
A third party will serve as the surrogate. In this situation, known as gestational surrogacy, donor eggs are fertilized with the father’s sperm during IVF and a resulting embryo is transferred to the uterus of the surrogate. The surrogate then carries the pregnancy, but the individual father or couple will have full parental rights.
As with egg donation, gay couples can either select a friend or a family member to serve as their surrogate, or they can employ a surrogacy agency. With both options, it is important to retain an attorney who is well-versed in your state’s laws on reproductive rights. An attorney can help you draft egg donor and surrogacy contracts. These documents help clarify the roles and responsibilities of all parties.
To learn more about gay fertility options, please contact the Southern California Center for Reproductive Medicine today.
