Legal Aspects of Egg Donation

In the legislation of Ukraine, the legal foundations of one of the assisted reproductive technologies - egg donation, are established. First of all, the procedure for egg donation is regulated by Article 123 of the Family Code of Ukraine and Article 48 of the Basic Laws of the Ukrainian legislation on health protection. The use of artificial insemination and embryo implantation is carried out according to the conditions and order, established by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, for medical reasons by an adult woman, with whom such an action is carried out, provided there is written consent from the married couple, ensuring the anonymity of the donor and the confidentiality of medical secrets. The Instructions for the use of assisted reproductive technologies, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health No. 787 dated 09.09.2013, disclose more legal aspects of the egg donation procedure, than in the aforementioned laws. It contains a list of persons, Those capable of offering their participation in such a procedure (donors). These might be familiar female faces, relatives; anonymous voluntary donors; patients of ART programs, who have a written, voluntary consent, providing the recipient with part of their egg cell. Main requirements for such donors: - A woman aged from 20 to 32 years; - Having a born healthy child; - No negative phenotypic manifestations; - Satisfactory somatic health;

And it is important to note that the legislation specifically highlights in the Instructions on the procedure for using assisted reproductive technologies those women who can use a donor egg, must have medical indications for it, such as: absence of eggs, Caused by natural menopause; premature ovarian failure syndrome; condition after oophorectomy, radiotherapy or chemotherapy; anomalies of sexual organ development (gonadal dysgenesis, Turner-Shereshevsky syndrome); risk of transmitting hereditary diseases linked to sex (hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ichthyosis, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease); unsuccessful repeated attempts at IVF (4 or more) due to insufficient ovarian response to superovulation induction, repeatedly obtaining low-quality embryos. The donation program is anonymous. The family using donor eggs is informed of the following parameters: height, weight, hair and eye color, nationality, education, presence of a family and children, blood type, and Rh factor. The recipient's age (the woman using the donor eggs) is preferably up to 51 years old. No information about the recipient is provided to the donor. The female recipient must be examined by a therapist. A medical report confirming the absence of contraindications for pregnancy and childbirth must be provided. Are you young, happy, and have healthy children? If so, hundreds of thousands of tiny oocytes are waiting to be fertilized in your body. Each month, they disappear into nowhere… Donating some of your oocytes, helping other women achieve the joy of motherhood – this is a worthy noble choice! In donation programs, a contract is concluded between the clinic and the donor, which represents consent to perform ovarian puncture. The contract also defines the obligations of the parties. The candidate for donation undergoes a full medical examination and an interview with a psychologist. In what cases is egg donation used? Treatment of infertility, using a donor egg is recommended in cases of: - Absence of ovaries - Inability to obtain own mature eggs - Absence of eggs due to natural menopause - Removal of uterine appendages - Repeated acquisition of embryos of inadequate quality - Repeated attempts at IVF, which did not result in pregnancy

Requirements for egg donors:

• Female aged 20-32 years
• Having own children is mandatory
• No bad habits
• No lactation

The program “Oocyte Donation” includes the following stages:

• Synchronization of menstrual cycles of donor and recipient;
• Ovulation stimulation of the egg donor with pharmacological drugs;
• Retrieval of oocytes through ovarian puncture. Fertilization of the retrieved oocytes with the husband's sperm;
• Embryo transfer.

Contraindications to the use of donor oocytes in IVF:

• Somatic and mental disorders, which contraindicate pregnancy carriage;
- Congenital developmental defects or acquired deformations of the uterine cavity, in which embryo implantation is not possible; - Ovarian tumors; - Hyperplastic processes of the endometrium; - Benign uterine tumors requiring surgical treatment; - Acute inflammatory diseases of any location; - Malignant neoplasms of any location, including in the medical history. How does the donation procedure take place?

The actual procedure of egg collection takes about 10 - 15 minutes and is performed in a procedural room under general anesthesia. We can extract mature eggs from your ovaries, guiding a thin needle through the vaginal wall directly into the follicles and monitoring this process on the ultrasound screen. The needle has a slightly larger diameter than a needle used for drawing blood from a vein. After the procedure is complete, you will need to rest for several hours in a special ward. Then, you may go home, having received payment for your services.

What is the compensation for donation?

After passing all the examinations, you can be enrolled in the donor registry. Before the start of the egg donation program, an agreement is signed with you. Donors with Rh-positive blood factor are paid $500, and donors with Rh-negative blood factor are paid $700 on the day of egg retrieval, regardless of their number and quality.

Confidentiality

All information about donor programs is confidential. The married couple, receiving your eggs, signs a statement that they agree not to establish the identity of the egg donor and understand that further relationships between them, or their children, and you are impossible. They will not know your name. However, they will be given general information about your weight, height, appearance, and ethnicity. The egg donor cannot request information about the outcomes of the donor programs. Your donation will become a priceless gift to those infertile couples, for whom the only chance to have a desired child may be realized with the voluntary participation of women like you. Legal Aspects of Surrogacy If a woman cannot carry a pregnancy due to health reasons, she may be offered a surrogacy program (IVF/ICSI), where the embryo is transferred to another woman's uterus. The use of donor eggs is possible in cases where the woman has had her ovaries removed or they are not functioning. The probability of pregnancy in these programs, As a rule, no less than 50%. Modern reproductive technologies allow achieving good results and give a married couple hope for happy motherhood and fatherhood. It should also be considered that the time nature allows for childbearing is limited. Do not postpone having children for later, because after the age of 38 the probability of pregnancy (even with the help of IVF/ICSI) drastically decreases, and by the age of 48 it virtually drops to zero. Determining the cause of infertility should not be delayed.

Surrogacy in Ukraine

Ukraine is one of the few countries where surrogacy is legally allowed (according to the Family Code of Ukraine, the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Rules for Registration of Civil Status Acts in Ukraine” № 1154/5 dated 22.11.2007, the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine “On Approval of the Instruction on the Application of Assisted Reproductive Technologies” № 771 dated December 23, 2008). Item 10 of Section 3 of the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No. 1154/5 dated 22.11.2007 establishes the procedure for registering a child: "In the event of the birth of a child by a woman who had an embryo implanted that was conceived by the spouses, the registration of birth is conducted based on the application of the spouses who consented to the implantation. In this case, along with the document confirming the fact of the child's birth by this woman, her notarially certified written consent for recording the spouses as the parents of the child is also submitted."

Who can be a surrogate mother?

A woman can become a surrogate mother if she:

• is of legal age (between 18 to 35 years old);
• is legally competent according to the requirements of art. 30, 34 of the Civil Code of Ukraine;
• may be married and have a child;
• participates in the program with the consent of her spouse;
• should not be registered with a narcotics or psychiatric professional;
• should not have a criminal record.

The main requirements for the parents are:

• They must be a married couple, - married in accordance with the requirements of the Family Code of Ukraine. - The presence of specific medical indications for the spouses to resort to the program of surrogacy.

  The situation is considered on an individual basis if one of the spouses is not a citizen of Ukraine. For this purpose, the clinic submits relevant requests to governmental bodies and communicates with the embassies of the state of which one of the spouses is a citizen.