What does the application and interview cover?
Screening starts long before a donor sees a clinic. The first layer is an application and an interview, and it removes most candidates who would not qualify later.
The application asks for:
- Age. PLS donors are 21 to 30.
- Height and weight, to check that she is physically healthy and in proportion. PLS typically looks for a BMI of 18 to 27.
- Lifestyle. Smoking, vaping, alcohol, drug use and sexual history. PLS donors are non-smokers who use no illegal drugs, and during the cycle they are in a stable relationship or not sexually active.
- Education and identity. PLS requires a high school diploma and a valid Social Security number.
- Reproductive history. Menstrual cycles, any pregnancies, any prior donor cycles and their results, and current contraception.
- Personal medical history. Surgeries, hospital stays, chronic conditions, medications and mental health history.
- A three-generation family history. Health conditions in parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, with ages at diagnosis where known.
At PLS, the donor first completes a prescreen on the website and then the full application, with about ten photos from early childhood to now. The PLS donor intake coordinator then calls her to verify her information. The interview is a conversation, usually by phone or video. It checks that the answers on the form hold together, that the donor understands what a cycle involves, and that she has time for monitoring visits and travel. It also gives her a chance to ask questions. A donor who is unsure at this stage is better off waiting.
The family history is the part that matters most for your future child. A gap or a vague answer is a reason to ask more questions, not a reason to move on. The full list of criteria is on the egg donor requirements page.
What does the FDA require of every egg donor?
Eggs are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration as human cells and tissue. Under federal rules (21 CFR Part 1271), every egg donor must be found eligible before her eggs can be used for another person. Eligibility has two parts.
The donor questionnaire. The donor answers a standard set of questions about risk factors for infectious disease. These include recent tattoos or piercings, travel to certain regions, blood transfusions, injected drug use and certain sexual histories. Some answers defer a donor for a set period. Others exclude her.
Infectious disease testing. The donor gives blood and urine samples that are tested at an FDA-registered lab. Testing must be done within 30 days before the retrieval and covers HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and other relevant infections.
Because of that window, testing is repeated before every retrieval. A donor who passed for one family's cycle is tested again for yours. A clinic physician reviews the results and documents the eligibility decision in the donor's file before the cycle goes ahead.
What genetic carrier screening is done, and why match panels?
Carrier screening is a blood or saliva test that shows whether a donor carries a gene change for a recessive condition. Carriers are healthy. A child is affected only if the egg and the sperm carry a change in the same gene.
Most donors are tested on an expanded panel that covers a long list of conditions, including cystic fibrosis and conditions indicated by the donor's ethnic background. A carrier result is common and, in most cases, acceptable. What matters is the pair.
That is why the donor's panel has to match the sperm provider's. If they are tested on different panels, a condition one of them carries may never have been checked in the other. Using the same panel, or one that covers the same conditions, closes that gap.
When both reports are in, a genetic counselor reviews them together. If both carry the same condition, your options are to choose another donor, use different sperm, or ask your clinic about testing embryos for that condition. A genetic counselor also reviews the family history and may recommend more testing if a pattern stands out.
Carrier screening is different from PGT-A. Carrier screening looks at the donor before a cycle. PGT-A looks at each embryo's chromosome count after fertilization. See PGT-A.
What is in the psychological evaluation?
ASRM guidance recommends that every egg donor have a psychological evaluation by a licensed mental health professional. The evaluation usually includes an interview and, in many programs, a standardized personality test. At PLS it is a psychological and psychosocial evaluation that includes a personality inventory.
The professional looks for three things:
- Understanding. Does the donor understand the medical process, the risks and the time it takes?
- Consent without pressure. Is she choosing to donate freely, not because of money trouble, a partner's pressure or a family obligation?
- Long-term readiness. Has she thought about genetic offspring she may never meet, the chance of being contacted later through consumer DNA testing, and how she would explain donation to her own family?
For a known donor, such as a sister or friend, counselors often meet with the donor and the intended parents together as well as separately. They talk through the relationship, what the child will be told and what contact will look like.
The evaluation is not a test a donor studies for. It is there to protect her and the family she is helping. At PLS, the evaluation is done by an independent licensed professional, not by anyone PLS employs.
What does the clinic's medical screening measure?
The last layer happens at the intended parents' fertility clinic, after a match. It answers one question: is this donor likely to respond safely and well to stimulation?
The medical screen usually includes:
- A physical and gynecologic exam.
- A transvaginal ultrasound to look at the uterus and ovaries and count antral follicles, the small resting follicles visible at the start of a cycle. The antral follicle count is a useful guide to how many eggs a donor will produce.
- AMH (anti-Mullerian hormone) bloodwork, another measure of ovarian reserve.
- Other blood and urine tests, including blood type and Rh, hormone levels and a drug screen. The infectious disease panel covers HIV, HTLV-1, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and CMV.
- The FDA infectious disease panel, if it has not been drawn yet for this cycle.
A donor with a low follicle count or low AMH may produce too few eggs. A donor with a very high count may be at higher risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), so the clinic adjusts her protocol. See egg donation risks and OHSS.
| Layer | What is tested | Who performs it | When | Pass criteria | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Application and interview | Age, BMI, lifestyle, reproductive history, three-generation family history | Agency or clinic donor program | Before listing | PLS: age 21 to 30, healthy and in proportion, non-smoker, no illegal drugs, high school diploma, valid Social Security number; no disqualifying history | PLS donor criteria; ASRM |
| 2. FDA eligibility | Questionnaire; infectious disease tests | Clinic; FDA-registered lab | Within 30 days before retrieval | No exclusions or deferrals; negative results | FDA 21 CFR 1271 |
| 3. Genetic carrier screening | Expanded carrier panel | Genetics lab; genetic counselor | Before or at match | No shared carrier status with the sperm provider | ASRM; clinic |
| 4. Psychological evaluation | Interview; often a standardized test | Licensed mental health professional | Before match or cycle | Informed, free and ready | ASRM |
| 5. Clinic medical screen | Exam, ultrasound with antral follicle count, AMH, bloodwork | Recipient's fertility clinic | After match, before stimulation | Expected safe and adequate response | Clinic |
What does ASRM say about donor age and number of cycles?
ASRM, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, publishes guidance for clinics on donor selection. Two points affect most families.
Age. PLS accepts donors from 21 to 30. The lower limit gives a donor time to consent as a mature adult. The upper limit reflects the decline in egg quality through the early thirties.
Number of cycles. PLS follows the ASRM-aligned limit of no more than six donations in a lifetime. The limit protects the donor's health over repeated stimulation and limits the number of genetic half-siblings born from one donor. Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager, donated three times herself.
Ask any program how many cycles a donor has completed and how many families have used her eggs.
What does PLS check before you see a profile?
PLS reviews each donor's file before a match. Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, reads the medical records. Before a profile reaches you, PLS checks:
- The application and family history are complete and consistent.
- Which screening layers are done, and which are pending, with dates.
- Prior donor cycles, if any: the number of cycles and how she responded.
- The carrier screening panel, so your clinic can match it to the sperm provider's.
- The psychological evaluation by a licensed mental health professional, which PLS donors complete before they are matched.
PLS also tells you plainly what is not yet known. A first-time donor's clinic medical screen happens after match, so her response to stimulation is an estimate until then. For how to weigh what you find, see how to choose an egg donor.
Sources
- US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 21 CFR Part 1271, donor eligibility for human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products.
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), practice committee guidance on gamete and embryo donation.
- SEEDS, Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy.