Donor conception (donor eggs, sperm, and embryos)
Donor conception uses eggs, sperm, or embryos from someone other than the intended parent to build a family, most often combined with IUI or IVF. It is used when a person's own eggs or sperm cannot lead to a pregnancy, for genetic reasons, or by single people and same-sex couples. In India, donation must go through a registered ART bank and is anonymous: donors cannot be a relative or someone known to the intended parents, and both donors and recipients are protected by rules on age limits, health screening, and one-time donation.
Donor conception uses eggs, sperm, or an embryo from someone other than the intended parent, most often as part of an IUI or IVF cycle. The intended parent (or their partner) still carries the pregnancy; this is different from surrogacy, where another person carries the pregnancy, which is a separate arrangement regulated under its own law.
Who uses it
Common reasons include very low or absent egg or sperm counts, egg quality that has declined with age, a genetic condition that a parent does not want to risk passing on, earlier IVF cycles that have not produced a usable embryo, and single people or same-sex couples building a family. Donor sperm is generally the simpler path and can be used with IUI or IVF; donor eggs require IVF, since the egg must be fertilised and transferred as an embryo.
How it works
Donor sperm is used much like a partner's sperm would be, in an IUI or IVF cycle. Donor eggs are collected from the donor in a standard IVF-style cycle, fertilised in the lab with the intended parent's or a donor's sperm, and the resulting embryo is transferred to the recipient's uterus, which is usually prepared with hormones beforehand rather than stimulated. Donor embryos, less common, are already-created embryos donated by another couple after their own treatment.
Donor rules in India
| Egg donors | Sperm donors | |
|---|---|---|
| Age range | 23 to 35 years | 21 to 55 years |
| How many times | Once in a lifetime, up to 7 eggs retrieved | Regulated by the ART bank's records |
| Anonymity | Anonymous; not a relative or someone known to the recipient | Anonymous; not a relative or someone known to the recipient |
Under the ART (Regulation) Act 2021, donors must come through a registered ART bank, and a bank cannot supply the same donor's gametes to more than one intended parent or couple. Donors are health-screened, and an egg donor must have insurance cover arranged by the intended parent for a period after the retrieval, since egg retrieval is a minor procedure with its own small risks. Compensation is limited to reasonable expenses, such as travel, lost wages, and medical costs, not payment for the eggs or sperm themselves.
How well it works
Success with donor eggs depends mainly on the donor's age, not the recipient's, since egg quality is the main age-related factor in fertility. This is why donor-egg cycles often have meaningfully higher success rates for older recipients than using their own eggs would. Success with donor sperm in IUI or IVF follows the same patterns as any other IUI or IVF cycle using that method.
Questions worth asking
Ask the ART bank or clinic how donors are screened, what health and genetic information about the donor you will receive, what the full cost includes (donor compensation, insurance, the treatment cycle itself), and how many of their past donor cycles have led to a live birth. Our questions to ask your clinic page covers the broader checklist.
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