Attitudes of couples with stored frozen embryos to conditional embryo donation

Aim: Studies consistently show that the number of couples requiring donor gametes to conceive greatly outweighs the number of donors. This study aimed to survey clients with stored frozen embryos regarding their attitudes to (a) donation of embryos to other couples and (b) the extent to which these attitudes would be influenced by the opportunity to impose conditions on recipients. Method: Two surveys were mailed to each couple at IVF Australia (North) who had embryos stored for longer than three years (n = 574; 287 couples). The survey addressed demographics (including education, ethnicity, religion), treatment history (including type of infertility, number of treatment cycles, use of donated materials, whether families were complete) and attitudes to embryo donation. Result: 99 women (35%) and 66 men (23%) responded (total n = 165). 16.5% indicated they would consider donating their embryos to an unknown couple. 43% of all respondents agreed that donors should be able to specify characteristics of recipient couples, 23% disagreed and 34% were unsure. 60% indicated that capacity to specify recipients would not influence them, 26% said they would be somewhat more likely and 14% much more likely to donate. Respondents were most interested in specifying the marital status and sexuality of the recipient couple and least interested in specifying where the recipient couple lived. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for counseling potential embryo donors and recipients are discussed as well as directions for future research.