Donor Embryo

Embryo donation is one disposition option for users of in vitro fertilisation with remaining fresh or frozen embryos.

Recipients of embryos donated for procreative implantation typically plan to transfer fresh or frozen embryos into a prepared uterus in order to facilitate pregnancy and childbirth. Recipients of embryos donated for research typically use them for clinical training, quality improvement research, or human embryonic stem cell research.

Embryo donation for procreative implantation is a form of third party reproduction. Embryo donation can be anonymous (donor and recipient parties are not known to each other, and individuals have no ability to contact one another), semi-open (parties can interact via a third party, but do not share personally identifiable information in order to provide a layer of privacy protection), open (party identities and contact information are shared so the families can interact directly in various types of relationships), or ID disclosure (donor-conceived youth can request and receive donor contact information when the donor-conceived reaches the age of 18). Any children born from embryo donation for procreation would be biologically related to the gamete donors used when creating the embryos. This is the same principle as is followed in egg donation or sperm donation.