The attitudes of fertile and infertile women to Oocyte donation in a Muslim and Secular population

Objective: To determine general attitudes of fertile and infertile women to oocyte donation in a Muslim and secular population.

Methods: The participants consisted of fertile women (n=133) who had at least one healthy living child spontaneously conceived without any fertility treatment and infertile women (n=133) who were diagnosed with primary infertility. Both groups were evaluated with charts comprised of 34 questions addressing demographic characteristics and the social aspects of oocyte and sperm donation.

Results: Although the age of fertile women was significantly greater than infertile women, there was no significant difference in terms of duration of marriage, education level, or employment status between the two groups. Most of the women in each group reported that they did not have enough knowledge about oocyte donation to make a decision. Only 12% of fertile women and 18% of infertile women declared that they would have oocytes from another woman if they did not have or could not have a child (p=0.004). Only 9.0% of fertile women and 18.8% of infertile women declared that they would donate oocytes to anyone who is infertile (p=0.021).

Conclusion: Despite improvement in health care, most fertile and infertile women are still against oocyte donation. This situation may be related to the conservative leanings of Turkish society in recent decades.