ROPA method Spain, IVF for female partners

What is Reciprocal IVF?

Women without a male partner can achieve a pregnancy through this assisted reproduction treatment using donor sperm.

Reciprocal IVF (ROPA), also known as co-maternity, means “Reception of Oocytes from Partner”. Through this technique, both women are able to take part in and share the process of pregnancy. One will be the genetic mother and the other the gestational or biological mother. One woman will provide her eggs functioning as the donor, and the other will receive the embryo transfer functioning as the recipient.

What are the steps of the process?

The woman donating must undergo ovarian stimulation in order to collect the eggs to perform In Vitro fertilisation (IVF). Egg collection will be performed under sedation in the operating theatre and lasts for around ten minutes. Once the eggs have been collected, they will be fertilised with the donor sperm and embryonic development will be monitored in the laboratory from here on until their transfer 5 days later.

The woman who will become pregnant must undergo endometrial preparation treatment with oestrogens. This endometrial preparation is performed as the other woman in the couple is undertaking ovarian stimulation. Once the recipient’s endometrium is prepared and the embryos are in the laboratory, they will be transferred into the recipient’s uterus to achieve a pregnancy.