Motivations for egg donation to previously unknown recipients: donation as a personal, relational act of giving

Abstract

Egg donation has becoming increasingly common however there is a shortage of donors in many countries, including New Zealand. Research regarding motivations to donate in the context of New Zealand’s open-identity and altruistic donation policy and practice is, thus far, limited. This in-depth qualitative study comprised interviews with 21 women to examine their motivations in donating to recipients previously unknown to them. Donors valued parenthood highly and had become aware of the fertility struggles of other women through their own experiences, those of friends or family, or through online personal accounts or advertising. The ability to select recipients and build a comprehensive picture of them, such as through reading recipient profiles or meeting them in person, as is possible in New Zealand, deepened their identification with recipients and thus their empathy and desire to help. They resisted commercial models, positioning themselves as by nature altruistic and regarding their donations as expressions of solidarity and acts of personal gift-giving to specific others who became known to them through donation. Donation was interpreted as a socially relational process, setting up expectations around relationships and ongoing connection. Such understandings have implications for recruitment as well as ongoing experiences and support needs.

Keywords:

• Egg donation
• open identity
• altruistic
• gift-giving
• relationship

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the participants who were interviewed for this study and the support of the consumer organization FertilityNZ in advertising this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).