The "justification" for payments over $5000 may include previous successful donations, unusually good family health history, or membership in minority ethnicities for which it is more difficult to find donors. As a result of these legal and financial differences around the world, egg donation in the US is much more expensive than it is in other countries. For instance, at one top US clinic it costs more than $26,000 plus the donors medications (another several thousand dollars).Having an attorney draft a contract is recommended in order to ensure that the donor has no possible legal rights or responsibilities over the child or any frozen embryos. Hiring an attorney who specializes in reproductive law is thus strongly recommended, at least in the United States; other countries may have other procedures for clarifying the parties rights, or may simply have legislation that defines the parties rights. In the US, before the egg donors IVF cycle begins she typically must sign the Egg Donor Contract, which specifies the rights of the donor and the recipient(s) with respect to the retrieved eggs, the embryos, and any children conceived from the donation.
Another study has found that embryos created for one couple, using an egg donor, are often made available for donation to another couple if the first couple chooses not to use them. Psychological and social issues
Quality of Parent-Infant Relationships
Quality of parent-child attachment in early infancy has been recognized as a crucial influencer of a childs socioemotional development. The formation of a quality and secure attachment is largely influenced by parental representations of the parent-child relationship. Concern regarding relationship quality and attachment security in egg donor families is understandable and typically stems from the absence of genetic material shared between the mother and child. In recent years, researchers have begun to question if lack of genetic commonality between mother and child inhibits the ability to form a quality attachment. In a recent study, quality of infant-parent relationships was examined among egg donor families in comparison to in vitro fertilization families. Infants were between the ages of 6–18 months. Through use of the Parent Development Interview (PDI) and observational assessment, the study found few differences between family types on the representational level, yet significant differences between family types on the observational level. Egg donation mothers were less sensitive and structuring than IVF mothers, and egg donation infants were less emotionally responsive, and involving than IVF infants. No differences were found in relationship quality between egg donor fathers and IVF fathers representationally or observationally.