New England Area Fertility Experts Issue Call for Ethnic ...( LEXINGTON Mass. March 12 /- Swell...),Health

LEXINGTON, Mass., March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Swelling numbers of infertile couples are turning toward egg donation as a means to become pregnant and are in turn creating an acute shortage of ethnic minority donors, say physicians at the Reproductive Science Center (RSC) of New England.

As a result, RSC doctors are calling for young women of Jewish, Asian Indian and other Asian ethnic groups in New England to consider becoming egg donors as an altruistic act for couples who may have no other options for conceiving.

"Due to the shortage in New England, Asian donors are traveling to Boston from as far away as California," said Dr. Samuel Pang, medical director of RSC. "That puts additional financial strain on a recipient, who is responsible for paying for the donor's transportation and hotel fees."

Cultural, religious and social traditions are often a barrier to egg donation in certain ethnic communities, Pang said. For instance, in some cultures, infertility is seen as a failure, which hinders couples from going to their friends and family about becoming possible egg donors. Traditional Asian communities might reject the idea of egg donation, because of the importance of bloodlines within their culture.

The increasing demand for egg donors is in part due to the recent success of egg donation rates. About 12 percent of IVF attempts in 2005 involved the use of donated eggs in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The number of IVF attempts that involved either donated eggs or donated embryos increased from about 5,000 attempts in 1995 to more than 16,000 attempts in 2005.

"In order to have children who resemble them, some couples have gotten creative and chosen donors outside of their ethnic group based on similar physical attributes," said Amy Demma, Director of Donor Programs at Prospective Families, a Boston-based donor agency that works closely with RSC. "For example, Indian donors sometimes seek out
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