First ova donations under new law occur in Hadera

More than a year after the Knesset passed a law allowing the legal donation of ova from all women who meet the appropriate criteria, not just those undergoing fertility treatment, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera has performed the first two implantations this week.

Implementation of the law – which took a decade to prepare and legislate – had been severely delayed by bureaucracy, funding problems and a seeming lack of donors.

However, the Hadera hospital’s in-vitro fertilization found a donor, whose details must by law be kept completely confidential. Health Ministry legal adviser Mira Huebner gave most of the credit for the country’s first such procedure to Dr. Adrian Ellenbogen, the director of the unit. The woman inquired about making the donation after participating in an online forum discussing the egg-donation legislation.

When Ellenbogen made contact with the woman to verify her desire to make the donation, she said she regarded it as very important to help those who want children.

The donation procedure is complicated and involves medical examinations, taking hormones and undergoing minor surgery for fertile eggs to be removed.

She did so over the last few months.

“It’s clear that this is a fairly complex process, but the possible outcome – helping to bring a child into the world for women who seek it – is invaluable,” said Ellenbogen.

The donated eggs were implanted into the wombs of two women, who were tested, matched and determined in advance to meet the criteria.

“When you really want to do something, you can succeed,” Huebner told The Jerusalem Post. “Hillel Yaffe set a target and showed it was possible to meet it. I don’t know how many egg donations there will be under the law, but this is a big day.”

Doctors at the IVF unit, which is part of Hillel Yaffe’s obstetrics/gynecology department, said they were “more than pleased with the first donation and hope to see many more in the future, since the list of women seeking a donation like this is very long.”