Adelaide IVF clinic clients paying $26,000 for six donor eggs flown in from the United States

Couples desperate to become parents are increasingly looking to import eggs from US fertility banks – despite the staggering cost.

South Australian couples desperate to become parents are increasingly paying tens of thousand of dollars for donor eggs from the United States, fertility experts say.

In the days before Easter, three deliveries of frozen donor eggs, sold in half-dozen batches, arrived at one Adelaide clinic alone with more due after the holiday break.

The frozen donor eggs, kept cold in liquid nitrogen vapour, are transported in special shockproof containers the more than 13,750km from Arizona’s The World Egg Bank (TWEB) facility to Adelaide on commercial flights.

Fertility SA’s scientific director Michael Barry said the option of sourcing donor eggs from the US was gaining popularity due to the difficulty of accessing donated eggs locally, referring to a “flood of interest”.

“The US has a much larger population and it is a lot easier to facilitate egg donation there than it is here … it is a simple and easy way to get eggs,” he said.

“What usually happens here is somebody will use a known donor – a friend or a sister – but when it comes to finding people who are willing to donate eggs, it is becoming rarer and harder.”

Hopeful parents in Australia, who must undergo counselling, choose from a database of donors, reportedly paying about $26,000 for six eggs.

An illustration showing the process of in-vitro fertilisation. Picture: iStock

Mr Barry said it had taken him some time to adjust to the idea.

“To be honest, I have been converted ... at the start I thought it was outrageous,” he said.

“However, the success rate has changed my way of thinking … it is a significant investment but the chance of a baby is very, very high.

“Many patients (who go down this path) have had a long fertility journey and they’ve to a point of desperation, really … for them, this is the end.

“(Using the donor eggs), we now have a pregnancy rate of 70 per cent … if you look at IVF success rates across all couples, that is about a doubling of that.

“We are expecting our 10th baby to be born (from one of the US donor eggs) any day now.”

Mr Barry said his clinic had chosen to work with the world’s largest and longest operating egg bank only after reviewing others around the globe, seeking to ensure Australian regulations would be complied with.

Importantly, the child conceived would be provided with the identifying information about their genetic heritage on turning 18, he said, with genetic testing and infectious screens also carried out.

“One of the things the egg bank does, before it allows a lab to access eggs from it, is to ensure it is of a certain standard and that processes such as the thawing eggs is spot on – our clinic and two of our staff have been verified,” he said.

An Adelaide academic who has previously called for a national approach to dealing with a growing bank of embryos in fertility clinics, said while he wasn’t surprised by the growing interest in importing eggs from overseas, the trend created challenges.

“We are importing from a country with different legislation and different beliefs around what should motivate people to donate eggs,” Flinders University’s Professor Damien Riggs said.

“There are also implications around things such as who is keeping track of the donors once they move addresses, how do people keep a track of potential genetic siblings?

“These are quite complicated matters already evident when it comes to imported sperm but when it comes to eggs there is the additional issue of the global market in eggs.”