Aggregated News

Other women's eggs have not been kind to Debbie Vernon.

When fertility doctors determined Vernon's own eggs were kaput, they enthusiastically recommended a young egg donor who'd already helped two other couples get pregnant. Vernon tried to use this woman's eggs in combination with her husband's sperm, but the eggs, so successful for others, didn't work for her.

It's hard to find an egg donor in New York, where a plethora of professional women in their 30s and 40s with dysfunctional ovaries has created a demand for eggs far greater than the supply.

Vernon (not her real name) had to wait six months for another donor. Two weeks before that donor's eggs were to be harvested, doctors realized the donor had endometriosis and she was disqualified.

"It was such a huge disappointment," says Vernon, a psychiatrist who was 45 at the time.

That's how Vernon found herself becoming an egg pioneer of sorts: She went online to a new website that sells frozen donor eggs flown in from other cities. She was pleased to find a much wider selection than...