All about intra-partner egg-sharing

If you’re in a same-sex relationship and want to have a baby, did you know that you can donate your eggs to your partner and our egg donor programme so you receive your fertility treatment at reduced cost?

Intra-partner egg-sharing is increasing in popularity as way for female same-sex couples to have a family and at Manchester Fertility we are highly-experienced in this treatment.

Not only does it mean that both of you are involved in the baby’s development and birth – one of you is the genetic mother of the baby, with your partner the birth mother – IVF/ICSI with donor sperm has a higher success rate than insemination with donor sperm. Egg-sharing also helps other women whose only hope of a baby is using a donor egg.

The way it works between a couple varies as to who donates the eggs and who carries the baby. If both of you meet the criteria to egg-share – you must be aged 35 or under with no serious medical history and a non-smoker – then either of you can be the egg donor and it’s your personal choice to make regarding who donates the eggs and who gives birth.

If your partner is older than you and does not meet the criteria to egg share, then as the younger partner you would be the egg-sharer. As the egg-sharer, you undergo stimulation, with half of the eggs retrieved donated to our egg donor programme, where they’ll be used by our patients that need them.

Your half of your eggs are then fertilised with donor sperm – which can either be from our donor sperm bank or from a donor you have found yourself – and the resulting embryo transferred into your partner for her to carry the baby and give birth. Your cycle of treatment costs you significantly less, because you have donated eggs.

As an egg donor, you are entitled to find out if any of your eggs donated to our donor programme results in a birth, the sex of the child and the year they were born. You are not responsible however for any children born to our patients that used your eggs. You’ll receive full counselling from our team to talk you through the implications of becoming an egg donor through egg-sharing.

For more information about your treatment choices, read our guide.  You can start your treatment straight away. We have no waiting lists for donor sperm and can offer you a wide choice of fully-screened, HFEA-registered donors to choose from including selection by ethnicity, interests and physical characteristics.