Ovum Donation

• The donor is a resident of Israel.
• The donor's age is between 21 and 35.
• The donor is not deemed legally incapacitated, under guardianship, under arrest or an inmate.
• The donor is not a relative of the donation recipient.
• The donor is not a relative of the intended genetic father of the child. In cases where sperm donation is required, the ova donor must not be a relative of the sperm donor.
• The donor is from the same religion as the recipient (unless approved otherwise by an exceptional cases committee).
• In cases of a volunteer donor, the donor is not married (unless approved otherwise by an exceptional cases committee).
• A donor may donate ova up to three times, and at least 180 days must pass between donations.

The donor's application

• A woman who is interested in donating ova may contact one of the accredited in-vitro fertilization (IVF) units in the hospitals, to receive explanations and approval for the process. 

List of accredited units for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) (HE)

Explanation about the process

• A woman who is interested in donating ova will receive a detailed explanation about the ova donation process, including the treatment in the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) unit, preparation, suction and possible complications and risks. 

Making a decision to donate and consent to be included in the database

• A woman who has decided to donate ova will sign an informed consent form for the performance of an ova suction procedure and subsequent donation (see Medical Administration Circular 46/2011 (HE)).
• The form also includes the consent of the ova donor for the inclusion of her personal information in the Ministry of Health's database and the court's newborn registry. 

Medical tests

• Before a woman can donate ova, there is need for tests to ensure that the ova suction procedure will not endanger her health (beyond the regular risks associated with this type of procedure), and that her medical condition allows for the performance of an ova donation procedure. 
• The ova donor will undergo physical and medical tests, laboratory tests and a psychological evaluation. 

Receiving approval from the committee

• Before the performance of the ova donation process, an approval must be received from the approvals committee, which exists in any hospital that deals with ova donations, and the donor must appear before the committee.
• The approvals committee in the hospital will determine that the woman has made her decision to donate from her ova in sound mind and of free will and under no pressure, whether family-related, social, financial or otherwise.

Looking for a match between a donor and a recipient

• After entering the donor's information into the Ministry of Health's database, the system looks for a match between her and women who are on the waiting list for ova donation. The process may only continue if there is full match between the donor's data and the potential recipient's data.
• A match is achieved when both women meet the threshold criteria for the process, they belong to the same religion and they are not related.
• If there will be no match, the matter will be reviewed by the exceptional cases committee.

Exceptional cases committee

• The exceptional cases committee may approve cases where the donor does not meet the legal conditions, for example: 
  • She does not belong to the same religion as the intended mother.
  • She is married.
  • She is related to the recipient, or she is known to the recipient and is not anonymous.
• Applications for the exceptional cases committee will be filed either by the physician in charge or by the woman interested in receiving ova donation, with the application form for the exceptional cases committee (see Medical Administration Circular 46/2011 (HE)).

The medical procedure

• The ova donor will undergo a medical procedure of ova suction, that involves hormonal treatment and suction and retrieval.
• Information about the medical procedure, including instructions on taking the hormones and the performance of the suction, will be given to the woman by the treating physician.
• The donor will receive information from her treating physicians about the number of ova suctioned from her body and their quality.
• The donor will be able to go through up to three cycles of ova suction (with at least 180 days' rest between suction cycles).

• The ova suctioned in one cycle will be allocated to up to three women at most.
• A donor may request that some of the ova suctioned from her body (20% of the ova or two ova, whichever is lower) will be frozen for her future use or assigned for research.

• An ova donor is eligible for the reimbursement of her expenses and a uniform monetary compensation for each ova suction cycle that she will undergo.
• The payment is transferred to the donor by the hospital in which the ova were suctioned, after the ova have been fertilized.
• A volunteer donor will receive about 20,000 NIS per suction cycle.
• A patient donor will receive half the amount given to a volunteer donor.
• The amounts are updated from time to time and potential donors are required to check the amount in the hospital in which the ova suction procedure will take place.
• If the treatment process is discontinued, for circumstances beyond the donor's control, after the beginning of the hormonal treatments, the donor will be eligible for a compensation of 5,000 NIS.
• It is strictly forbidden to provide the donor with any other payment or benefit beyond the compensation given by the hospital.

Medical Administration Circular 31/2017: Financing and Compensation to the Ova Donor and a Donation Recipient's Fee (HE)

• The HMO that insures the ova donation recipient will cover the overall cost of the required treatment (medications, manpower, tests, hospitalization) both for the donor and the recipient:
  • in case of donation made by an ova donor whose identity is known to the recipient.
  • even when the donation is given by an anonymous ova donor.
• If fertilized eggs from the same donor were transferred to several patients, each of whom is a member of a different health plan, then each recipient’s health plan will transfer the full payment to the hospital that performed the egg retrieval and treatments.
• The HMO will remain liable for financing the hormonal stage and the suction and retrieval procedure, even if, for any reason, the treatment did not end with the suction of ova from the donor's body.
• The compensation to the ova donor will be paid with the fee paid by the recipients of ova donation.
• The hospital in which the hormonal treatment and the ova suction procedure is initiated will be responsible for financing all of the administrative arrangements required for the process, including psychological evaluation and the activity of the approvals committee, even if the donor will eventually decide to receive her treatment in another hospital.

• An ova donor may, at any time, withdraw her consent for making any use of the ova suctioned from her body, until the time that use.
• An ova donor may, at any time, withdraw her consent for assigning the ova suctioned from her to donation, until the fertilization of the ova.
• An ova donor who withdraws her consent will not be eligible for a compensation.

• An ova donor will not receive any identifying information about the woman to whom the ova will be transferred (unless this is a donation process under the approval of the exceptional cases committee, in which the donation recipient is familiar with the donor).
• An ova donation recipient will not receive any identifying information about the donor. The Ministry of Health receives de-identified data about the donors and the tests that they undergo.
• The treating physicians may provide non-identifying information about the donor to the recipient of the donation, if there are reasons that justify it.

• Baruch Padeh-Poriya Medical Center, Tiberias
• Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera
• Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer
• Wolfson Medical Center, Holon
• Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Tzrifin
• Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon
• Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center, Tel Aviv

Further information about the IVF units (HE)