Comparison of attitudes of donors and recipients to oocyte donation

The attitudes of volunteer donors and recipients undergoing treatment in an ovum donation programme were studied in order to assess both the psychological and psycho-social aspects of the procedure. A questionnaire was sent to 35 donors and 60 recipients. All donations were unpaid. Fifty-eight were anonymous donations and three were known. Eighty-six per cent of recipients and 74% of donors had told at least one person other than their partner. Eighty per cent of donors and 66% of recipients agreed that donors should not be paid. Sixty-three per cent of donors would donate if the recipient was told their name but only 26% of recipients would accept if the donor was given their name. Seventy per cent of the donors would donate to someone they knew but would rather donate anonymously. Ninety per cent of recipients were strongly against the donor contacting the child later in life but 54% of donors had no objection to the child contacting them. Eighty-six per cent of recipients and 56% of donors felt that if they had been born from a donated oocyte, they would not want to know.