Egg Donation - Legality

Legality

Egg donation is regulated and /or prohibited in many countries. In the United States, having an attorney draft a contract is often necessary to establish and confirm the parental rights over any child. Hiring an attorney who specializes in reproductive law is strongly recommended. Legal contracts are considered more as guidelines of intent and may be declared invalid as a child's best interest is generally considered when litigation occurs. Donor's and other participants retain their rights as well, and cannot be forced to adhere to any contract that is declared to be invalid.

The Buzzanca versus Buzzanca, 72 Cal. Rptr.2d 280 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998), established the role of the recipient, the father of the conceived child, and the child. It stated that both the recipient and the father of the child by virtue of their procreative intent, are the legal parents of the child. Therefore, the father must pay child-support even if he claims a divorce before the conception of the child.

The Uniform Parentage Act (updated most recently in 2002) establishes the role of the egg recipient to the conceived child. The recipient under this act, is given complete parental responsibility of the conceived child.

Before the retrieval of the eggs from the donor, the donor must sign the Egg Donor Contract which specifies the rights of the donor with respect to the conceived child and the recipient. In this contract the donor agrees to undergo a thorough medical and psychological screening, genetic testing, and screening for communicable diseases (i.e. HIV). Also, it specifies that the egg recipient and the father of the child are the legal parents.