Medical Issues: Is Using a Donor Egg for IVF Permissible in Islam?

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Medical Issues: Is Using a Donor Egg for IVF Permissible in Islam?

English:

Question #1265:

Some childless couples get separated mainly because of the strains and stresses put on the marriage due to the fact that the wife is barren because of ovulation problems. Is it permissible to use an egg donated by another woman to carry out the fertilisation procedure in a tube by the husband’s sperm and the implantation of the fertilised egg in the wife’s womb?

Answer #1265:

Although there is no legal problem in carrying out the said procedure in itself, the born child belongs to the genetic parents. There is a problem in referring the baby to the mother who became pregnant with it. Therefore, they should observe caution insofar as the shar‘ī rules governing lineage are concerned.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Medical Issues