Until about five years ago, women seeking to have their eggs frozen by fertility clinics across Canada could do so only for medical reasons. Things have since changed. Largely thanks to technological advances, egg freezing can be carried out with much more success and is now available to women seeking it for non-medical reasons. Just this October, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine lifted the process’ “experimental” label. With its changed status, egg freezing is set to become more widely available to women, even those seeking it for non-medical reasons.
Social egg freezing (egg freezing for non-medical reasons) seems a promising way to empower women by giving them more control over when they can have children. Fertility declines with age and the dip is especially steep for women after their mid-30s. Women captivated by the allure of a traditional family, where a woman and her male partner have biological links to their children, find themselves in positions where starting a family is anything but ideal. A woman might want to pursue a career, establish financial security, or find the right partner first. As is the case with numerous women, she may hit her late-30s before these conditions are met, at which point the quality of her eggs is very low.
The process of egg freezing can assist women who want to have a family, but initially lack the right conditions. It starts with the extraction of multiple eggs. Ideally, a woman should have her eggs frozen when she is fairly fertile, during her late-20s or early-30s. The eggs are then frozen and stay in storage until the patient chooses to retrieve them. When the patient decides she is ready, they will be thawed, fertilized by her chosen partner, and implanted into her uterus. Therein lies the advantage: a woman can have her eggs frozen when she is fertile and retrieve them under desirable conditions.
While quite promising, egg freezing has its limits. While vitrification maintains the quality of eggs in the freezing process, if a woman is well past her birth-giving prime, the technology cannot make up for the decrease in egg quality that accompanies ageing. A woman would need to have substantial foresight to use egg freezing before it is too late.
Additionally, egg freezing is financially and physically taxing. LifeQuest, a fertility clinic, charges $8,600 for egg freezing, not including egg storage, fertilization, and embryo transfer. The process also requires self-injections of medication for egg development, which can be physically difficult.
Social egg freezing is poised to take off and empower women, but it cannot overcome the inevitable fertility decline. If a young woman who wants to delay birth-giving is willing to brave the process and dole out the money, she should do so before it is too late.
