NEWS: Today the Colorado State Senate passed The Donor-Conceived Persons and Families of Donor-Conceived Persons Protection Act. This landmark decision garnered bipartisan support and will drastically improve standards for donor-conceived people and donors alike.  This is Our Stories, a new series by We Are Egg Donors (WAED), that digs into the real stories behind the volunteers who make our community possible. Today WAED has thousands of members committed to transparency and better standards for egg donors. Get to know Rachel Lemmons and her passion for egg donor advocacy, and how she l ..read more

Liz Scheier, WAED’s media liaison, and author of the new book Never Simple, described by the New York Times as a “powerful, conversational and — above all — honest memoir [that] shakes hard truths out of the family tree.” This is Our Stories, a new series by We Are Egg Donors, that digs into the real stories behind the volunteers who make our community possible. Today WAED has thousands of members committed to transparency and better standards for egg donors. Get to know WAED’s leadership team.  Enter Liz.   WAED: Tell us about yourself. Liz: Hi! I'm a 3-time egg donor living in Wa ..read more

We Are Egg Donors has been a long-time partner with Dr. Diane Tober, a medical anthropologist at UCSF who is researching egg donation in the United States and Spain, and another project on egg freezing. Our co-founder, Raquel Cool, recently sat down with her to interview her about her work. You can check out WAED’s previous interviews here and here.   Q: It has now been seven years since you began your research in egg donation. How has the landscape changed since then? Wow. It’s been seven years already? And yet I feel like we’re just getting started.  Well, one of the things I’ve s ..read more

We Are Egg Donors stands with those who have been harmed, repressed, marginalized, or murdered because of their skin color. We stand with those who seek justice through protests across the world. We stand together with a commitment against racism and we will not be silent on this issue. We are a volunteer-run group with WAED members from all over the world. Right now, WAED is taking steps to increase the safety in this group for people of color. As moderators and admins of our community space, we remain committed to ensuring that our forum is a safe and welcoming space for people to discuss i ..read more

Rae is a scientist in the United States who loves being outdoors — including hiking, camping, kayaking, and skiing. You may have already read her experience of being denied her medical records as an egg donor due to a HIPAA loophole. Since writing that article, the information she shared helped a lot of egg donors negotiate their contracts such that the clinic is required to share the medical records of their cycle with them.  Rae has gone on to donate her eggs multiple times and is currently trying to conceive. After experiencing a recent loss, she learned some important considerations egg do ..read more

By Liz Scheier Egg donation brings in about $100MM to the fertility industry every year in the US alone. That’s big money. So it’s no surprise that some clinics and agencies participate in less-than-ethical practices to convince young women to donate with them.  We Are Egg Donors (WAED) donors have experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’ve put together a list of industry practices which may put your health, safety, or finances at risk.  If any of these look familiar, consider choosing another clinic or agency, incl ..read more

We Are Egg Donors has been a long-time partner with Dr. Diane Tober, a medical anthropologist at UCSF who is researching egg donation in the United States and Spain. Our co-founder, Raquel Cool, recently sat down with her to interview her about her work. RAQUEL: What first inspired your research? DIANE: Well, you were really the one who initially raised my awareness about women’s experiences donating eggs. I had done research on people’s experiences with infertility, sperm donors, and single women and lesbian couples using sperm donors since the 1990s. At first, like many people, I figured egg ..read more

by Liz Scheier We are always heartened to receive messages from concerned intended parents, or recipients of donor eggs, who want to make sure that their egg donor is treated with the utmost respect and highest standard of care. Because of the lack of oversight and regularity with which egg donation is globally practiced, that is not always the case. We have learned a lot after forming a community of thousands of egg donors worldwide. We’ve asked our private community to share their insight. To all intended parents who consider themselves allies in protecting the wellbeing of egg donors, than ..read more

We rarely hear about egg donation from a trans individuals’ perspective, so WAED invited member Jayson to share his experience. We Are Egg Donors: Tell us about yourself. Jayson:  I’m a 25-year-old clinical psychotherapist based in New York City, serving youth in the foster care system. Over the last few years, I’ve donated six times to at least seven families that I am aware of.  Some of my interests outside of my work include watching musical theater, live performances, gardening, community and grass roots activism, volunteering in LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, Intersex+) c ..read more

We Are Egg Donors was formed by three egg donors in 2013. Since then, we are often asked what egg donation is “really” like. Our support group has nearly 2,000 past and current egg donors in 12+ countries. Being a volunteer-run organization (and one that doesn’t profit from egg donation) offers us a unique vantage point. We’re republishing the following article, which includes a resignation letter by our co-founder, Sierra. In her letter, Sierra explains some of the troubling issues we have encountered over the years. As a pro-choice organization with feminist values, we will continue to work ..read more