Attitudes of Donors and Recipients toward Ethical Issues in Oocyte Donation

Oocyte donation is a routine procedure in the treatment of some types of female infertilities in most infertility clinics worldwide. Donors and recipients awareness about legal and ethical issues governing donation plays a significant role on the future of couples and resultant babies. This study aimed to assess the attitudes of oocyte donors and recipients with attention to their belief and desires on the premises to adopt better policies and make improvements in social and ethical impacts of oocyte donation. This descriptive study was conducted on 52 donors and 53 recipients of oocyte in Vali-e-Asr Reproductive Health Research Center. If the subjects were willing to participate in the study, interviews were carried out to collect demographic data and explore the opinion of the participants through oocyte donation questionnaire (ODQ). Totally, 47% of the recipients and 40.4% of the donors requested their identity to be kept confidential and anonymous to the counterparting party. As much as 94.2% of the recipients and 56.9% of the donors were in favor of giving financial rewards to the donors. Sixty-four percent of the recipients and 30% of the donors were against informing the baby about the oocyte donation procedure. The legal, civil and ethical issues of oocyte donation should be clearly anticipated according to the registered guidelines. The precise dimensions of legal, religious and medical side-effects of the procedure should be clearly explained through counseling the donors and recipients before initiating the cycles. More extensive studies on donors and recipients attitudes on legal, religious, and social aspects of oocyte donation are suggested.