Since 2008 the clinics have noticed an increase in the number of sperm and egg donors. Although the main motive is usually the desire to help couples with difficulties in having biological children, being paid has attracted many people who are in financial difficulties and who have found a solution, even a partial one, in donation.
Although there are no official data, it is estimated that there are 20% more male donors and 10% more female donors. This difference is explained by the fact that egg donation is much more complicated and uncomfortable than sperm donation, although it is logically better paid. A woman can receive 900 euros for a donation while a man only receives 50 euros.
The main problem with this increase in donors is that many of them repeat too many times. Spanish law establishes that each donor can “have” a maximum of six children but there is no file that controls the donations of each individual. Currently there are donors who go to various clinics and doctors must be trusted when they say they have not made previous donations. The crisis has also paralyzed the government’s latest attempt to launch a common registry to resolve this situation.
How eggs are donated?
A woman is born with about 2 million ovules, of which she will only use 400 or 500 throughout her life. With each menstrual cycle she develops several hundred but only one, the best, reaches full maturity; the rest atrophy and are reabsorbed by the body. The latter are those that are donated before they are lost. For this, the woman must get subcutaneous injections of hormones that stimulate the ovaries for two weeks.
During these two weeks, she monitors the evolution of the ovules: that they do not mature too much or that they fall short. Under normal conditions, between 10 and 20 eggs can be obtained that are extracted through the vagina, for which the woman must be sedated during an intervention that lasts about 20 minutes.
How semen is donated?
Men, before being accepted as donors, must pass a series of medical tests. It is verified that he does not suffer from any genitourinary infection and a control is made through a blood test. A chromosome study is also done to rule out some mutations.
Once this step is passed, the donor is considered suitable. In the next phase, the man has an appointment to go to the consultation, where he will provide a semen sample that will be analyzed to assess its quality.
As established by law, the maximum number of donations from the same individual is 144 donations (or six successful pregnancies), in the case of men, and 6 pregnancies in the case of women.
