Should I freeze my eggs?

Today this fantastic article came out in the Guardian - the writer is worried that her time is running out and decided to explore the possiblity of freezing her eggs - for the future when she might decide she does want children.

I do get asked this question by clients I coach and I refer them to websites and specialists. But my personal view is that freezing eggs is no solution really. As the writer of the article describes, it is a painful and lengthly procedure (just like IVF - you need to inject hormones and then your eggs are harvested). And it is expensive.

As the writer of the article notes:

'I began this process believing there was a magical solution to my biological limits, that I could somehow cheat time and put off-deciding whether or not I wanted children. But egg-freezing is not the solution: it can only provide women with a choice that comes with a very high cost - financial, physical and psychological'

Comments

Well, I disagree with most of your comments about egg freezing. I did it recently and it wasn't a lengthly process (about 2 weeks), it was hardly painful, and costs are relative depnding on your insurance, insurance coverage or lack of. Personally, I recommend the procedure if a woman is on the fence. If you regret it, there is no going back later to do it.
Beth said…
I get what you are saying - but I guess my worry is that IVF is actually a procedure that has a very low success rate - something like only 18% of all embroyos that are re-emplanted result in a pregnancy. So although the initial egg havesting may not be too traumatic, when you have to go and try several times using IVF for a baby it can very traumatic and very stressful. So, it's like - maybe do the egg freezing but also, women could consider getting pregnant as a single mom, co-parenting, adoption as well.
Adoption, IVF, being a single mom, co-parenting and egg freezing are all entirely different things. I know that right now, I amnot sure what I want to do in the future but I do know that at least I did the procedure and can choose to use these eggs or not. If I did not do the procedure, then I would have one less choice. Also, your statistic of 18% is very broad....first, the number depends on the clinic, age at transfer and whether you use fresh or thawed embryos etc. I will only use the official stat from NYU that is reported to SART for my age group and a thawedd cycle...it is over 33% per cycle for a live birth.

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