Public sector fertility clinics have reported that the first donor egg babies have been born in Tampere and more are expected to be born any day now in Helsinki.
"We’re so happy the first babies from donor eggs [in the public system] have seen the light of day," said Katja Ahinko, a specialist at Tampere University Hospital's fertility clinic.
Public sector hospitals in Helsinki and Tampere resumed fertility treatments with donated reproductive cells--or gametes--last year after ending the practice in 2016. Prior to 2016, only a small percentage of all fertility treatments with gametes were carried out at public sector institutions in Finland.
Last year, individual women and female couples also became eligible for public sector fertility treatments, with certain restrictions. For instance, would-be mothers must be residents of Finland under age 40 who are not significantly overweight and do not have more than one child already.
Egg donors 'enthusiastic'
Ahinko said clinics expected it to be difficult to find egg donors, but that didn't turn out to be the case.
"Surprisingly enough, Finns were eager to donate. A lot of good egg donors--200 of them--got in touch in a very short period of time," Ahinko explained, saying that many donors were moved by public sector treatments becoming available for individual women and female couples.
"Another important issue was that many of these donors wanted to make their eggs available within the public system to give everyone a chance at these treatments," she said.
Private clinics have used donor eggs for decades but customers have had to foot the costs, easily running into thousands of euros.
Ahinko also said that many of the egg and sperm donors have been young people who are childless by choice.
Single women biggest group
Individual women between the ages of 35 and 40 make up the biggest group using donor eggs. In Tampere, around 100 women in this group have sought eggs, with female couples comprising less than half of this number. In Helsinki, around 150 women between in that age group requested donor eggs, while female couples number around 100.
"It’s important to remember that heterosexual couples also need donor gametes. We’ve currently got 60 couples in line for eggs and 30 couples waiting on sperm donors," said Johanna Aaltonen, a reproductive specialist at Helsinki University Hospital.
While donated gametes will eventually be available throughout Finland, eggs are currently only available in Helsinki and Tampere.
According to public health institute THL, of all the assisted fertility treatments performed in 2018, nearly 18 percent resulted in births.
As a result of those treatments, nearly 2,500 children were born, representing 5.4 percent of births in Finland that year.