The search for donor eggs: a problem of supply and demand

Although seven babies who were conceived in vitro with donated oocytes have been born in the Monash-Epworth programme, the availability of this service is now threatened because of the scarcity of oocytes for donation. Previously oocytes were donated by infertile women undergoing oocyte collection in the in vitro fertilisation programme, but this supply has been severely curtailed since cryopreservation of their embryos has been made available to them. Other sources of donated oocytes have included collecting oocytes from women undergoing laparoscopic sterilization, infertile women finding their own (known) donors, and fertile women donating all their oocytes for altruistic reasons on an in vitro fertilisation programme. The latter two categories offer the greatest chance of collecting mature oocytes for donation.