Egg donation may involve the following steps:
1. Give the prospective egg donor injections of hormones to stimulate the ovaries.
2. Test the blood of the donor at regular intervals.
3. Conduct ultrasound scans to look for suitable eggs.
4. Prepare the egg donor for the procedure with an anesthetic.
5. Remove the eggs from the donor.
Pro: A woman whose age may make her more likely to produce a child with a birth defect, such as Down's syndrome, could use an egg from a younger woman. This would increase chances that the older woman would produce a child without a defect resulting from a chromosomal abnormality.
Con: Only financially needy women are likely to resort to selling their eggs. So the practice of selling eggs to infertile women tends to exploit the poor for the benefit of the rich.
Con: The practice of selling eggs to infertile women may create legal contests to determine which woman—the 'birth mother' or the 'genetic mother'—can claim the child as hers.
Con: As they grow up, the children born of donated eggs may be nagged by unanswered questions about their origins and identities. They may even suffer doubts about their own worth. They may wonder who their genetic mothers are and why these women chose to give up their eggs. They may wonder whether the genetic link has an emotional counterpart, whether the egg donor feels any affinity for the offspring.
Con: Egg donation is more complicated and riskier than sperm donation. Women who donate eggs are putting themselves at risk of suffering the adverse consequences of the required surgical procedure.