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A Good Egg or Sperm

In Search of the Perfect Donor

By Sharon Miller Cindrich

After interviewing 13 women, the Lauxes found the donor they were looking for. And what was their most important criteria? "We wanted to find someone who was a good person," Laux says. She adds that the donor never asked about the money, loved animals and had good family support.

Laux is now three months pregnant with twins and when asked if she would be tempted to choose the egg of a model, she laughs. "There are no guarantees," she says. "Have you ever seen a model's parents?"

Of course, even couples whose most basic desire is a healthy baby are privy to information on a donor's educational background, childhood and family photos. At EggDonation.com, the screening process for ovum donation not only includes medical history, but genetic history going back three generations, a close look at the donor's family members, their lifestyles and several one-on-one interviews. Certainly this information weighs on a couple's decision for a donor.

"After months waiting to get a donor, I would not reject a donor based on any of these issues," says Monica Dolan ^* of Cleveland, Ohio who, along with her husband, has had two donors fall through and is still waiting. "While it may seem like couples get to pick and choose their donors, it is important to realize that there are less donors than couples wanting donated eggs."

 Though eye color, religious background and educational experience represent some of the information available through the screening process, Dolan says that her number one priority is that the donor is fertile. "The second most important thing is that she is reliable," she adds. "Donating eggs can be an invasve procedure. I want someone who really wants to do this so she can make it through this process."

Want to see more?

• Ending Infertility Treatment: Coming to Terms With Not Becoming a Biological Parent
• Family Building for Gay and Lesbian Parents
• Donor Egg & Sperm: A Family-Building Alternative for the Infertile
• Talk about it!