Egg Donor Requirements: Do You Qualify to Donate Eggs?
Considering becoming an egg donor?
Egg donation can be an incredibly meaningful way to help another person or couple build a family while also receiving compensation for the time, commitment, inconvenience, and medical process involved.
Because egg donation involves fertility medications, a medical procedure, and a genetic contribution to a future child, donors must meet certain initial qualifications and complete additional medical, genetic, infectious-disease, and psychological screening before a donation cycle can begin.
Simple Surrogacy’s initial requirements help us identify women who may be appropriate candidates. Final medical approval is made by the fertility clinic completing your donor screening.
Current Simple Surrogacy Egg Donor Requirements
To apply to become an egg donor with Simple Surrogacy, you should generally:
- Be between 21 and 32 years old
- Live in the United States or Canada
- Have a BMI of 30 or below
- Be in good overall physical health
- Not smoke or use illegal drugs
- Not be alcohol dependent
- Be able to provide detailed information about your personal and family medical history
- Be willing to complete genetic screening
- Be willing to complete psychological or psychoeducational screening
- Meet current FDA and fertility-clinic infectious-disease screening requirements
- Have at least a high school education or equivalent
- Be dependable and able to attend required appointments
- Be willing and able to take fertility medications as directed
- Be willing to travel when required for screening or egg retrieval
- Follow the fertility clinic’s instructions regarding medications, contraception, sexual activity, exercise, travel, and treatment
- Pass the agency’s applicable background and program review
- Be willing to provide accurate and complete information throughout the process
- Understand the long-term implications of providing eggs that may result in genetically related children
- Be comfortable with the type of donor arrangement you select, including the possibility that genetic connections may someday be discovered through DNA testing
Meeting these requirements allows you to begin the evaluation process. It does not guarantee that a fertility clinic will medically approve you for donation.
Why Is the Age Requirement 21–29?
Egg quality and ovarian response are closely related to age.
Simple Surrogacy currently accepts egg-donor applicants between ages 21 and 29 as a program requirement.
Professional recommendations allow for a somewhat broader range. ASRM states that egg donors should be legal adults and are preferably between 21 and 34.
Simple Surrogacy’s narrower age range is therefore an agency program policy, not a universal FDA requirement.
Why Does BMI Matter for Egg Donation?
Simple Surrogacy currently requires egg donors to have a BMI of 30 or below.
BMI is only one health-screening tool and is not a complete measurement of someone’s overall health.
However, fertility clinics may use BMI when evaluating:
- Response to ovarian-stimulation medications
- Procedural and anesthesia considerations
- Medical risks associated with egg retrieval
- Clinic-specific treatment protocols
Individual fertility clinics can have stricter BMI requirements than the agency.
Do I Have to Be a U.S. Citizen?
We recommend removing the current page’s separate “must have U.S. citizenship” requirement.
The page currently says donors may be residents of the United States or Canada and then separately says they must be U.S. citizens. Those two requirements conflict with one another.
Federal egg-donor screening requirements focus on donor eligibility, infectious-disease testing, medical history, and tissue safety—not U.S. citizenship.
Simple Surrogacy can maintain geographic or residency requirements for practical reasons, but those should be described clearly as agency program requirements, not medical or FDA requirements.
Do I Need a Pap Test Every Year?
Not necessarily.
The old requirement that every donor must have had a Pap smear within the previous year is outdated as a general medical rule.
Current cervical-cancer screening recommendations depend on age, medical history, and the type of screening used.
Applicants should instead be:
Current on recommended cervical-cancer screening and willing to complete any additional gynecologic evaluation required by the fertility clinic.
The fertility clinic may request recent records or additional testing before approving a donor.
What Infectious-Disease Testing Is Required?
Egg donors undergo infectious-disease screening because donated eggs are regulated reproductive tissue.
FDA-required donor testing can include testing for infections such as:
- HIV
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Syphilis
- Chlamydia
- Gonorrhea
- West Nile virus when applicable
The fertility clinic or FDA-registered facility responsible for donor eligibility determines the exact testing and timing required.
It is more accurate to say that a donor must meet current FDA infectious-disease eligibility requirements than to state that someone can never have had a sexually transmitted infection.
Some previous infections may require treatment, documentation, retesting, or a deferral period rather than permanent exclusion.
Always disclose your complete medical and sexual-health history accurately.
What About Tattoos and Piercings?
The old Simple Surrogacy requirement says:
“No tattoos or piercings within the last 12 months.”
That is broader than the actual current donor-screening standard.
Current donor-eligibility guidance focuses on tattoos or body piercings performed within the preceding 12 months when sterile procedures were not used or when it is unclear whether sterile procedures were used.
A professionally performed tattoo or piercing using documented sterile practices should therefore not automatically be described on our site as a 12-month disqualification.
The fertility clinic ultimately determines donor eligibility based on current screening standards and the circumstances of the procedure.
What About Travel and Zika Virus?
The old page lists specific countries—including Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Cape Verde—and says a donor cannot have traveled to any Zika-risk country during the previous six months.
We recommend removing that static country list.
Zika-risk classifications and outbreaks change.
Instead, donors should be told:
You must meet current FDA and fertility-clinic infectious-disease eligibility requirements related to Zika virus, including applicable rules concerning recent travel, residence, diagnosis, or sexual exposure.
Applicants should disclose all recent international travel during screening.
The fertility clinic will determine whether travel affects the timing of donation under the guidance in effect at that time.
Can I Donate Eggs if I Have a Genetic Condition in My Family?
Possibly.
The old requirement saying a donor cannot have “any genetically carried medical conditions” is too broad.
Most people carry genetic variants, and being a carrier for a recessive genetic condition does not automatically mean someone cannot donate eggs.
Current professional guidance recommends genetic evaluation and carrier screening.
Screening commonly includes conditions such as:
- Cystic fibrosis
- Spinal muscular atrophy
- Hemoglobin disorders
Expanded carrier screening may also be used.
Your personal history, family history, genetic-test results, and the genetic background of the sperm source may all be considered.
Some findings may exclude a donor.
Others may simply require genetic counseling or additional testing.
The fertility clinic and qualified genetics professionals determine whether a particular finding is medically significant.
How Much Family Medical History Do I Need to Know?
The existing requirement says donors must “know at least one half of your genetic make-up.”
We recommend removing that wording because it is unclear and not medically meaningful.
Instead:
Donors must be able to provide a reasonably detailed personal and family medical history for their biological relatives to the extent that information is known.
You may be asked about parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives.
Limited or unknown family history does not have a universal mathematical cutoff, but it can affect whether a fertility clinic or intended parents are comfortable proceeding.
Honesty is more important than trying to fill in information you do not actually know.
Can I Donate if I Have a Mental-Health History?
Mental-health screening is an important part of egg donation, but the existing statement that donors may have no psychiatric illness and take no psychiatric medication is too simplistic.
ASRM recommends that egg donors undergo evaluation with a mental-health professional experienced in third-party reproduction.
That evaluation considers factors such as:
- Current and previous mental-health conditions
- Treatment history
- Current and previous psychiatric medications
- Family psychiatric history
- Current stress
- Coping skills
- Substance-use history
- Motivation to donate
- Ability to provide informed consent
- Understanding of future identification and contact
Certain serious or active mental-health conditions may prevent someone from being approved.
Current psychoactive medication can also be relevant to approval.
But applicants should disclose their history and allow qualified professionals to evaluate it rather than assuming that every past episode of anxiety, depression, counseling, or another mental-health concern creates an automatic lifetime exclusion.
Never stop prescribed medication simply to qualify as an egg donor.
What Birth Control Can I Use Before Egg Donation?
We recommend removing the current references to Norplant and the specific blanket rule requiring someone to be off Depo-Provera for eight months.
Contraceptive technologies and fertility-clinic protocols change.
Some birth-control methods can temporarily affect ovarian-reserve testing or the timing of a stimulation cycle.
The better evergreen requirement is:
Tell us and the fertility clinic exactly what birth control you currently use. The fertility clinic will determine whether it needs to be discontinued or changed and how long you must wait before screening or stimulation.
Never stop prescribed contraception or another medication without medical instructions.
Do I Have to Avoid Sex During an Egg Donation Cycle?
You will need to follow the fertility clinic’s instructions carefully.
During ovarian stimulation, multiple eggs develop and the ovaries become enlarged.
There can also be a significant risk of unintended multiple pregnancy if unprotected intercourse occurs during the cycle.
The clinic may therefore restrict intercourse or require specific contraception during parts of the donation process.
Rather than promising one universal “one month of abstinence” rule, Simple Surrogacy should tell donors that they must agree to follow the fertility clinic’s instructions regarding sexual activity and contraception throughout the treatment cycle.
Will I Have to Give Myself Injections?
Usually, yes.
Egg donors typically take injectable fertility medications for a relatively short stimulation period.
You need to be willing and able either to administer the medications yourself or reliably arrange appropriate help if permitted by the fertility clinic.
The clinic will provide instructions about:
- Medication
- Dose
- Timing
- Injection technique
- Storage
- Monitoring appointments
Medication timing is important, particularly the final trigger medication before egg retrieval.
Do I Have to Travel?
Possibly.
The intended parents’ fertility clinic may not be located near you.
Depending on the cycle, you may need to travel for:
- Medical screening
- Monitoring
- Egg retrieval
Simple Surrogacy coordinates approved travel when required under the donor program.
Before accepting a match, make sure you understand the likely travel expectations and can realistically accommodate them.
What Does Psychological Screening Cover?
Psychological or psychoeducational screening is not intended to determine whether someone is a “good” or “bad” person.
Egg donation raises long-term issues that deserve thoughtful consideration.
The evaluation may discuss:
- Why you want to donate
- How you feel about children being born from your eggs
- Whether you have told your partner or family
- Your feelings about future contact
- Your understanding of nonidentified versus identified donation
- The possibility of being identified through consumer DNA testing
- Future donor-conceived siblings
- How medical information may need to be updated later
- Your mental-health history
- Whether compensation is creating inappropriate pressure to participate
The goal is informed consent.
Can Egg Donation Be Completely Anonymous?
No agency should promise lifelong anonymity.
Simple Surrogacy offers different levels of donor-recipient contact, but even a nonidentified arrangement cannot guarantee that identities will remain unknown forever.
Consumer DNA testing, genealogy databases, social media, and future technology may allow donor-conceived people or genetic relatives to identify one another.
Potential donors should understand this before applying.
Do I Have to Be Motivated Only by Helping Someone?
No.
Wanting to help another person build a family can be an important reason for becoming an egg donor.
Compensation can also matter.
Egg donors devote significant time to screening, appointments, medications, monitoring, travel when necessary, egg retrieval, and recovery.
Simple Surrogacy believes donors deserve fair compensation for that commitment.
What matters is that you understand the process, are participating voluntarily, and are able to make an informed decision without inappropriate financial or emotional pressure.
Who Makes the Final Decision About Whether I Qualify?
Simple Surrogacy determines whether you meet our initial program criteria.
After you are selected for a potential donation, the fertility clinic conducts its own screening.
The clinic ultimately decides whether you are medically approved to proceed.
Screening may include:
- Medical history
- Physical examination
- Ovarian-reserve testing
- Ultrasound
- Infectious-disease testing
- Genetic screening
- Psychological evaluation
- Additional testing based on your individual history
Being accepted into the Simple Surrogacy donor database does not guarantee that every fertility clinic will approve you.
Ready to Learn More?
Before applying, read our Egg Donation Process so you understand what happens from application through retrieval.
If you meet the current qualifications and are comfortable with the medical and long-term implications of egg donation, you can begin your Egg Donor Application.
Questions are encouraged.
You should understand the process before deciding whether egg donation is right for you.
