Egg donation in Illinois: how it works for parents and donors

How does egg donation work in Illinois?

Egg donation means a donor's eggs are retrieved at a fertility clinic, fertilized through IVF, and the resulting embryo is transferred to the intended mother or to a gestational surrogate. Many intended parents who need a surrogate also need donor eggs, so the two are often planned together.

A donor journey has five stages:

1. Choosing a donor. Intended parents review screened donor profiles, or bring a known donor, such as a relative or friend.
2. Screening. The donor completes medical, genetic, infectious-disease and psychological screening at the fertility clinic.
3. Legal agreement. The donor and the intended parents sign a donor agreement, each with their own attorney.
4. The donor cycle. The donor takes stimulation medications under the clinic's care, with monitoring, and the clinic retrieves the eggs.
5. Embryos and transfer. The clinic creates embryos, and an embryo is transferred to the intended mother or to a surrogate.

Nancy Block, RN, has run egg donation matching in Illinois since 2000, when she founded The Center for Egg Options Illinois. She ran it for 15 years, sold it to Fertility SOURCE Companies in 2015, and stayed on as VP International and Major Client Relations. She founded Private Label Surrogacy in 2017 and personally runs matching there, for donors and surrogates. She meets every new intended parent herself. PLS is relaunching its egg donation program under the name PLS Egg Donation.

What does PLS egg donor matching include and cost?

The PLS Egg Donation program fee is $11,000 ($1,500 at donor reservation, $9,500 on invoice), or $8,500 when combined with a PLS surrogacy journey.

The program fee covers what the agency does: recruiting and pre-screening donors, presenting profiles, coordinating the donor's medical and psychological screening with your clinic, coordinating the independent attorneys for both sides, coordinating the escrow account, and the PLS egg donor coordinator, who is the donor's point of contact through the cycle. If you also have a surrogacy journey with PLS, the same team coordinates both, so the donor cycle and the surrogate's preparation run to one calendar.

Donor matching at PLS is held to the same ethics standard as surrogacy. Nancy is a former President of SEEDS, the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy, and received its Shining Star Award in 2018. Jo Ann Levitan, PLS's Director of Operations, served on a SEEDS committee from 2017 to 2025. Nancy also sits on the Advisory Board of Parents Via Egg Donation. In practice that standard means three things: donors are screened by the clinic and evaluated by independent professionals, donor money sits in independent escrow, and every donor has her own attorney.

Donors also have someone at PLS who has been in their position. Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager, was a three-time egg donor before she became a gestational surrogate, and she has worked in medicine since 2002. When a donor has a question about medications, monitoring or what retrieval day is like, she can ask someone who has done it three times.

The program fee does not include donor compensation, the clinic's fees, the donor's medications, or the third-party costs below. Those are paid separately, and the third-party amounts vary with the state where the donor lives.

What are the requirements to become an egg donor in Illinois?

PLS donors are 21 to 30, physically healthy with a healthy BMI, non-smokers who use no illegal drugs, hold a high school diploma and a valid Social Security number, are open to psychological and medical screening, and may donate no more than six times in a lifetime. A healthy BMI is typically 18 to 27. A prior healthy pregnancy is preferred, not required.

Donors are screened to ASRM guidance. That screening happens at the fertility clinic and covers:

• Age, because egg quality and response to medications depend heavily on it.
• Medical history, including reproductive health and any conditions that would make stimulation unsafe for the donor.
• Genetic history, including family history and genetic carrier testing.
• Infectious-disease testing.
• A psychological evaluation, so the donor understands what donation involves now and what it may mean later.

PLS does not employ the psychologists who evaluate donors or surrogates. It refers to independent licensed professionals on purpose.

For intended parents, screening is also how you learn about a donor. A donor profile shows her background and history; the clinic's screening confirms what can be confirmed medically and genetically. If something in a donor's history matters to you, raise it with your reproductive endocrinologist and a genetic counselor before you commit to a cycle, not after.

How much are egg donors compensated in Chicago?

At PLS, donor compensation starts from $10,000 and is set per match in the donor agreement.

What does not change is where the money sits. Donor compensation is held in independent escrow, like surrogate funds, and paid to the donor after retrieval, under her agreement. The intended parents fund the account; PLS never holds the money.

Compensation recognizes the donor's time, the medications and procedures she goes through, and the commitment of a cycle. It is not payment for eggs. A donor should have her own attorney review her agreement, paid for by the intended parents.

Fresh donor cycle vs frozen donor eggs: what is the difference?

A fresh donor cycle means a donor is matched with you, goes through stimulation and retrieval for you, and all the eggs from that retrieval are yours. The clinic fertilizes them and creates embryos. A fresh cycle takes more coordination, because the donor's cycle is scheduled around her screening and the clinic's calendar, but you know exactly which donor and which retrieval your embryos come from.

Frozen donor eggs are eggs that were retrieved earlier, frozen, and are offered in lots. The eggs already exist, so there is no donor cycle to schedule; the clinic thaws and fertilizes them when you are ready.

The right choice depends on your clinic's experience with each, how many embryos you hope to have, and whether you plan more than one child. Ask your reproductive endocrinologist which approach fits your plans, and what results the clinic sees with each. See Illinois fertility clinics.

Can donor eggs and surrogacy be combined in one Illinois journey?

Yes, and it is common. PLS bundles the two: the egg donation program fee drops from $11,000 to $8,500 when combined with a PLS surrogacy journey.

In a combined journey, the donor cycle usually comes first. The clinic creates and, if you choose, tests embryos, and freezes them. Meanwhile PLS matches you with a surrogate. When the surrogate's screening and agreement are complete, the clinic transfers an embryo to her. Having embryos ready before the surrogate is matched is the best way to keep the overall timeline, typically 18 to 24 months, from stretching.

Both the donor and the surrogate have their own attorneys. Both are paid from independent escrow. One PLS team coordinates both, so you have a single point of contact for the whole plan.

What does Illinois law say about donor anonymity and parentage?

Since the Equality for Every Family Act was signed in December 2025, Illinois intended parents no longer need a genetic link to the child to use the pre-birth parentage process under the Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act. Parents using both donor eggs and donor sperm, or a donated embryo, receive pre-birth parentage when a surrogate carries and the agreement complies with the Act.

Statutory treatment of donor anonymity and donor parentage in Illinois: pending review by counsel.

In practice, the donor agreement is where anonymity and future contact are decided. Anonymous, semi-open and known-donor arrangements are all possible, and each needs to be written down clearly, including what information can be shared with the child later. PLS coordinates known-donor cycles with your clinic and your attorney.

Ask your attorney three questions before you choose a donor: what the donor agreement says about contact and identity, how the donor's parental rights are addressed, and how the parentage filing will work if a surrogate carries. See the Equality for Every Family Act page, the Illinois surrogacy overview and surrogacy cost in Illinois.

Sources

• American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), guidance on oocyte donor screening: asrm.org
• Equality for Every Family Act, signed December 2025, Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.
• Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005), Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.
• SEEDS, Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy