Egg Donation in Germany: Legal Position and Treatment Abroad

No. Under Section 1(1) No. 1 ESchG, anyone who transfers another woman’s unfertilized egg to a woman faces up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine. The same penalty applies to fertilizing an egg for any purpose other than bringing about a pregnancy in the woman the egg came from (Section 1(1) No. 2 ESchG). Reproductive medicine is also regulated by the Transplantation Act (Transplantationsgesetz) and the Medicinal Products Act (Arzneimittelgesetz), but the ban on egg donation comes from the Embryo Protection Act.

German law does allow a woman to use her own eggs. They can be fertilized in a laboratory and transferred back to her, including eggs she had frozen earlier. What the law prohibits is treatment where the woman who provides the egg and the woman who carries the pregnancy are different people.

The Federal Ministry of Health distinguishes three forms of egg donation, all of which are currently prohibited in Germany:

• Donating eggs that were retrieved for a woman’s own fertility treatment but that she no longer wishes to use. This includes eggs at the pronuclear stage, where sperm has entered the egg but fertilization is not yet complete.
• Donating eggs to a female partner in a same-sex relationship, so that one woman provides the egg and the other carries the pregnancy. This is often called reciprocal egg donation.
• Donating eggs retrieved after hormone stimulation solely so that another woman can become pregnant.

In the treatment itself, the donor’s eggs are retrieved after hormone stimulation, fertilized in the laboratory, usually by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and transferred to the recipient’s uterus. From the moment the nuclei of egg and sperm fuse, German law treats the fertilized egg as an embryo (Section 8(1) ESchG).

No. The Embryo Protection Act is aimed primarily at the doctors who carry out the treatment. Both the donor and the recipient are expressly exempt from punishment (Section 1(3) No. 1 ESchG). Having egg donation treatment in a country where it is legal, and then living in Germany with your child, does not expose you to prosecution in Germany.

The legal questions that matter in practice concern the child: who the legal parents are, and how the birth is registered.

After egg donation abroad, the woman who gives birth is the child’s legal mother under German law, whatever the genetic link. How her partner becomes the second legal parent depends on whether they are married and whether the partner is a man or a woman.

Under Section 1591 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB), the legal mother of a child is the woman who gave birth to it, regardless of whose egg was used. If you carry the pregnancy yourself, you are your child’s legal mother under German law from birth, even though the treatment took place abroad. The egg donor never becomes a legal parent, and German law does not allow motherhood to be contested on the grounds that the egg came from another woman.

This also means that the child’s citizenship follows from you. If you are German, your child generally acquires German citizenship at birth (Section 4 of the Nationality Act, Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz or StAG), on the same terms as any other child born to a German mother. If you are not German, your child’s citizenship and right to live in Germany follow the general rules, and our family lawyers work alongside our immigration lawyers where residence status is involved. Where only a female partner is German, the child does not become German at birth through her, but acquires German citizenship once her stepchild adoption takes effect.

How your partner becomes the child’s second legal parent depends on your family situation. The rules are the same as after fertility treatment in Germany, and our page on fertility treatment and legal parenthood sets them out for each type of family. In short:

• Married to a man. Your husband is automatically the child’s legal father (Section 1592 No. 1 BGB).
• Unmarried, with a male partner. Your partner becomes the legal father through recognition of paternity (Vaterschaftsanerkennung). This requires your consent, can be made before the birth, and must be formally recorded, for example by the youth welfare office (Jugendamt), a registry office (Standesamt), a notary, or a German embassy or consulate if you are abroad (Sections 1594(4), 1595, and 1597 BGB). Custody is a separate step: unmarried parents share custody once they make a joint custody declaration (Sorgeerklärung), marry, or obtain a court order (Section 1626a BGB). In some binational cases, the recognition only takes effect once the local foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde) has approved it.
• With a female partner. Under current German law, your partner does not become a legal parent automatically, even if you are married, and even after reciprocal egg donation where she is the child’s genetic mother. She becomes the second parent through stepchild adoption (Sections 1741(2) and 1766a BGB). If you were already married when the child was born, the counseling normally required before a stepchild adoption usually does not apply (Section 9a(4) of the Adoption Placement Act, Adoptionsvermittlungsgesetz or AdVermiG). Until the adoption is complete, she is not a legal parent, which affects both custody and inheritance.
• Single women. You are your child’s only legal parent. Whether a sperm donor could later be declared the legal father depends on how the treatment was carried out, which our page on fertility treatment and legal parenthood explains.

If one of you holds another nationality, your child lives outside Germany, or your marriage is governed by another country’s law, that country’s law may also decide who the child’s parents are (Article 19 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code, EGBGB). In some cases, this allows a parent to be recognized under the law of their own country even where German law alone would not recognize them. Our family lawyers assess this in each case.

If your child is born in Germany, the birth is registered at the local registry office, which records you as the mother. If your child is born abroad, German authorities will usually need the foreign birth certificate with an apostille, an international certificate confirming that a document is authentic, or legalization by the German embassy, along with a certified translation. If your child is German, you can also apply to have the birth recorded in the German birth register (Section 36 of the Civil Status Act, Personenstandsgesetz or PStG).

In our experience at Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, many intended parents only deal with these questions after returning to Germany, for example when the registry office asks for further documents on the child’s parentage. Reviewing your situation before treatment begins can avoid these delays. Our family law team checks in advance which documents will be needed in Germany and supports you through registration with the registry office.

In egg donation, you carry the pregnancy and give birth yourself, so German law treats you as the child’s legal mother from birth. In surrogacy, another woman carries the child. Under German law, she is the legal mother, and the intended mother can usually only become a legal parent through recognition of a foreign court decision or through adoption.

Egg donation abroad is therefore legally much simpler than surrogacy abroad. The position changes if donor eggs are combined with a surrogate. In that case, the surrogacy rules apply, and if neither intended parent is genetically related to the child, recognition in Germany is generally ruled out. Anyone considering this combination should have it reviewed before signing anything.

At a glance, the two compare as follows under German law:

Egg donation, which clinics often describe as IVF with donor eggs, is permitted in most European countries and is regularly carried out for patients from Germany. Spain and the Czech Republic have become the main destinations within Europe, and countries differ considerably in how they regulate the treatment, for example in whether donors remain anonymous or can later be identified by the child.

Whether your parenthood is recognized smoothly in Germany depends largely on decisions made before treatment begins. Check the following points before you commit to a clinic:

• Whether the donor is anonymous. The German sperm donor registry does not cover treatment abroad, so whether your child can later learn the donor’s identity depends on the law of the country where you have treatment.
• Whether the treatment is properly documented. Keep the clinic’s records, your consent forms, and documentation of whose sperm was used, in case questions about parentage arise later.
• How the second parent will become a legal parent. Unmarried partners should plan the recognition of paternity before the birth, and female couples should plan the stepchild adoption from the start.
• How foreign documents will be accepted in Germany. If you plan to give birth abroad, arrange the apostille or legalization and certified translations while you are still in the country.
• Whether a surrogate is involved. If anyone other than you will carry the pregnancy, different and considerably stricter rules apply in Germany.
• How the treatment will be paid for. German statutory health insurance only contributes to fertility treatment for married couples using their own eggs and sperm, so egg donation abroad is usually self-funded.

Our family law team can go through these points with you before you commit to a clinic abroad. Have your plans reviewed before treatment begins.

Egg donation and surrogacy are prohibited in Germany, but IVF, ICSI, insemination with partner or donor sperm, and freezing eggs and sperm are all permitted. Many German fertility clinics require patients to have a legal consultation before treatment begins and to bring a certificate confirming it. Our family law team provides this consultation and issues the certificate, and our page on fertility treatment and legal parenthood explains what it covers.

Egg donation remains prohibited in Germany, although whether the ban should be lifted has been debated for years. In 2024, the Commission on Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine, set up by the Federal Government, presented its final report. It concluded that the current ban on egg donation is not required by the German constitution. However, the legislature could not simply remove the ban from the Embryo Protection Act. If it wishes to permit egg donation, it must regulate it in detail, for example in a dedicated reproductive medicine act setting out the requirements and procedure, as other countries have done.

The ban, like the ban on surrogacy, was introduced to prevent “split motherhood,” where the genetic mother and the woman who gives birth are different people. Because the woman who gives birth is always the legal mother under Section 1591 BGB, the egg donor can never become the child’s legal mother.

The debate weighs the possible disadvantages of split motherhood against the right to make decisions about one’s own reproduction, often described as reproductive freedom or the freedom to start a family. At the European level, the right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the right to marry and found a family under Article 12 ECHR are relied on in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on egg donation. Supporters of legalization also point out that sperm donation is permitted in Germany, even though it results in a comparable “split fatherhood.”

Political discussion has since turned to a narrower reform. Under this approach, women could donate eggs already retrieved during their own fertility treatment, while egg donation solely for another woman, and any commercial arrangement, would remain prohibited. As is usual for ethical questions in Germany, any change would most likely come as a cross-party proposal from members of the Bundestag rather than as a government bill. It remains to be seen whether, and in what form, the legislature will act on the Commission’s recommendations and these proposals.

At Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, our family law team advises intended parents before, during, and after egg donation treatment abroad. This includes:

• explaining the legal position in Germany and what it means for your treatment plans,
• assessing how the second parent will become a legal parent, and handling the recognition of paternity or stepchild adoption,
• reviewing which foreign documents will be needed and how they will be accepted in Germany, and
• supporting you through registration with the registry office and, where needed, proceedings before the family court.

Cross-border family matters often involve more than one legal system. Where needed, we work with partner firms abroad, and with our immigration lawyers where your child’s residence status is involved. We advise clients from all over the world in English, and every step that does not require an in-person appointment can be handled online. Your matter can start with a consultation by video call, in which we review your plans or the documents you already have and set out the next steps. Every matter is treated confidentially, and we work with a transparent cost structure, explaining any expected further costs at the outset. If you are considering egg donation abroad or have already returned to Germany with your child, contact our family law team to have your situation reviewed.