Birth control pills function like medicine with hormones, where the hormones (estrogen and/or progestin) prevent fertilization. Since birth control pills do not make a woman less fertile, women who are on the pill can still become egg donors.
It is generally fine to continue taking your birth control pills while waiting to be matched and your physician will communicate the details on if/when the birth control pills should be paused. As an egg donor, you will need to be open and candid in the interviews with your agency Case Manager and physician in order to receive the necessary guidelines for the process.
Yes, you can donate eggs with a NuvaRing. If you are using a birth control patch, you will likely need to remove it and switch to BCPs for the cycle.
For information on IUDs, visit this blog: Can You Donate Eggs With an IUD?
At Donor Nexus, an egg donor can expect to be placed on birth control pills before starting stimulation medications. Usually, doctors will have you take BCPs for 7 to 10 days before starting stimulation medications. This has been shown to help the follicles (egg containing structures) grow at a similar rate which leads to a greater number of mature eggs retrieved.
Always remember to use birth control if you are sexually active during the donor selection process. Once you are chosen as an egg donor and begin stimulation medications, it is extremely important to remain abstinent as you will be very fertile during this time and will not be on birth control.
During the stimulation period of approximately 12-14 days, it is required that you refrain from having having sex. If you have sex during this time, there is a high probability that you may become pregnant with multiples. The egg donation cycle would be cancelled, which would result in the donor not receiving compensation and the donor parents being devastated about the loss. Even with the use of condoms, the risk is too high since your eggs are stimulated and ready for pregnancy. Fortunately, our egg donors are very well-informed about this beforehand and this scenario rarely happens.
So, to answer, “can I be on birth control and donate eggs?”, the answer is yes! We hope this blog was helpful in helping you understand what to expect. Although the egg donation process may interrupt your birth control protocol, you can still be a successful egg donor.
We recommend that you begin the egg donor application process or contact our team to learn if you qualify for our egg donor program before abandoning your birth control method. If you have any additional questions, our team is always here to help!
Donor Nexus is a boutique egg bank in Newport Beach, California, working with egg donors worldwide. As a top-rated agency and egg bank, we pride ourselves on making sure our egg donors feel our genuine support throughout the entire process. If you are considering donating your eggs, you can find our Preliminary Egg Donor Application here. Please feel free to reach out to our team with any additional questions.