If you have frozen embryos from IVF and have decided not to use them, donating them to another person or couple is a straightforward process, though it involves medical screening, legal paperwork, and some emotional preparation. The full process typically takes a few months from your initial decision to the actual transfer of embryos to a recipient.
Deciding Whether Donation Is Right for You
When you have embryos in storage that you know you won’t use, you have three options: discard them, donate them to research, or donate them to someone else trying to have a child. Choosing donation means a child genetically related to you could be born and raised by another family, which is a significant decision worth sitting with before moving forward.
Most fertility clinics and professional guidelines recommend that all parties involved meet with a mental health professional who specializes in third-party reproduction. For donors, counseling typically covers what it means to have a genetic child you won’t parent, how you feel about potential future contact, and whether you and your partner (if applicable) are fully aligned on the decision. This isn’t a gatekeeping step. It’s designed to help you think through scenarios you might not have considered, like what happens if the child wants to find you someday.
Medical Screening Requirements
The FDA regulates embryo donation the same way it regulates other human tissue donations. Both the egg provider and the sperm provider who created the embryos must undergo eligibility screening, even if that’s you and your partner. The required tests cover HIV types 1 and 2, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis. Because embryos are reproductive tissue, donors who aren’t sexually intimate partners with the recipient also need testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Additional screening for certain viral infections may be required depending on the circumstances.
If your embryos were created years ago, you may not have had all of these tests done at the time. That’s common. The FDA allows the testing to be performed after the embryos are already frozen, so you can complete it when you decide to donate. If any test comes back positive, your embryos can still be used in a directed (known) donation as long as the recipient is informed of the risk and consents. For anonymous donations, however, positive results disqualify the embryos entirely.
Beyond infectious disease testing, ASRM guidelines recommend that donors provide a thorough medical and genetic history. Donors with a personal history of serious mental illness (such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or major depression) or significant chronic medical conditions requiring lifelong treatment are generally excluded. A family history of certain genetic conditions, particularly when multiple close relatives are affected or when onset occurs at a young age, can also be a disqualifying factor.
Choosing How to Donate
You have three main paths: working through your fertility clinic, going through a specialized agency, or arranging a private match on your own.
Your fertility clinic is often the simplest starting point. Many clinics maintain their own embryo donation programs and can match your embryos with patients already being treated there. The clinic handles the medical side and can usually refer you to attorneys and counselors. This tends to be the fastest route.
Agencies that specialize in embryo donation (sometimes called embryo adoption agencies) take a more involved approach. They collect detailed profiles from both donors and recipients, including family structure, economic background, and social history. A caseworker guides the matching process, typically presenting one potential match at a time. Some agencies require recipients to complete a home study, similar to traditional adoption, which can give you peace of mind that your embryos are going to a thoroughly vetted family. The trade-off is time. Agency processes involve more paperwork, approval steps, and waiting periods, so expect a longer timeline.
Private matching gives you the most control. Some donors find recipients through online registries, support groups, or personal connections. This approach puts more responsibility on you to coordinate legal contracts, medical logistics, and embryo shipping between clinics, but it lets you move at your own pace and choose the recipient directly.
Anonymous, Open, or Somewhere in Between
One of the biggest decisions you’ll make is how much contact, if any, you want with the recipient family. In an anonymous donation, all identifying information is removed from your profile. The recipient gets relevant medical details but won’t know your name, location, or anything that could identify you. You won’t know anything about them either.
In an open donation, both parties know each other’s identities. You may exchange contact information, meet in person, or even maintain an ongoing relationship. Some donors prefer this because they want to know where their genetic material ended up. Some recipients prefer it because they want their child to have access to biological family history.
Many arrangements fall somewhere in the middle. You might agree to share updated medical information or exchange photos through an intermediary without revealing your identity. The level of openness is negotiated between you and the recipient, usually with help from your agency or attorney, and spelled out in your legal agreement.
Legal Agreements and Parental Rights
Legal contracts are not optional in embryo donation. Laws vary significantly from state to state, so you need an attorney who specializes in reproductive law and understands the rules in both your state and the recipient’s state. The contract should clearly establish that you are relinquishing all parental rights and obligations to any children born from the donated embryos.
Many states follow the broad principle that a donor is not a parent of a child conceived through assisted reproduction. But the specifics differ. Some states have detailed statutes covering embryo donation. Others have little or no law on the books, which makes a well-drafted contract even more important. Your agreement will typically cover relinquishment of parental rights, any conditions you’ve placed on the donation, the level of future communication, and what happens to unused embryos if the recipient doesn’t use them all.
In some states, donors can place conditions on their donations, such as preferences about the type of family that receives them. In others, such conditions aren’t legally enforceable. Your attorney will advise you on what’s possible in your jurisdiction. Expect the legal phase to take one to two months.
What Happens After You Donate
Once screening is complete and contracts are signed, the practical transfer is relatively simple. If the recipient uses a different clinic than the one where your embryos are stored, the embryos are shipped in specialized cryogenic containers. Your clinic and the recipient’s clinic coordinate this directly, or the agency handles it if you’re using one.
The recipient then prepares for a frozen embryo transfer, which involves medication to prepare the uterine lining followed by the transfer itself. Based on 2022 data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, donated embryo transfers result in a live birth about 42% of the time. That’s slightly lower than the 47% rate for patients under 35 using their own frozen embryos without genetic testing, but it’s still a strong chance of success for the recipient.
After the embryos leave your clinic, your involvement is done, unless you’ve agreed to ongoing contact. Agencies that facilitate the donation typically maintain historical records and can serve as intermediaries for future communication if both parties agreed to that possibility. If you donated through a clinic, the clinic may keep records but generally won’t facilitate ongoing contact unless it was prearranged.
Costs for Donors
Donating embryos is usually free or low-cost for the donor. Recipients typically cover the medical, legal, and agency fees. Your main expenses, if any, are your own legal representation and any screening tests not covered by insurance. Some clinics charge storage fees up until the point of donation, so donating can actually save you the ongoing cost of keeping embryos frozen. If you’re working with an agency, ask upfront whether any costs fall on the donor side, as policies vary.