Social Egg Freezing: Developing Countries Are Not Exempt

Abstract

Non-medical egg freezing has only been available for about the last 5 years, as new vitrification techniques have made the success rates for actual conception more reliable than the earlier method of slow freezing. The improved outcomes of new technologies of vitrification and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have led to the marketing of egg freezing for non-medical reasons, whereby women are offered the possibility of preserving their eggs until such time as they wish to have a child. For many women today, it is not cancer but the simple passage of time that robs them of their chance of motherhood. Social, educational, emotional and financial pressures often lead them to delay trying to start a family until their late thirties, by which time the chance of success is very low. Women at age 40 face a 40 % chance of miscarriage if they can get pregnant at all, and by the age of 45, the risk of miscarriage is 75 %. Donor eggs are not an option for many because of supply constraints and ethical and cultural concerns. Freezing a woman's eggs at age 30 literally ''freezes in time'' her fertility potential and 123gives her the chance of a healthy pregnancy at a time of her choosing. Despite the initial reactions of disapproval, more and more fertility clinics are now offering oocyte cryopreservation to healthy women in order to extend their reproductive options. This procedure is now becoming popular even in developing economies, and egg freezing in major Indian Metros is now routine.

Patient-centered elective egg freezing: a binational qualitative study of best practices for women’s quality of care

“…It also offers a variety of specific recommendations for clinics, as outlined in Table 2. Indeed, with more and more women around the world seeking EEF [3,4], it is very important for IVF clinics to start developing patient-centered EEF protocols. As shown clearly in this study, single women who are pursuing EEF alone in the couples-oriented world of IVF have distinct and multifaceted needs for patient-centered EEF care.…”

“…Elective oocyte cryopreservation via vitrification-or Belective egg freezing^(EEF), as women themselves prefer to call it [1,2]-for healthy women who are hoping to preserve their reproductive potential is gaining increasing international acceptance [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Although EEF has been considered a key way for reproductive-age women to defer or delay childbearing while pursuing their educations and careers [10][11][12], the emerging empirical evidence strongly suggests that the primary users of EEF are women reaching the end of their reproductive lifespans (i.e., late 30s to early 40s) who would like to pursue childbearing, but find themselves without a male partner.…”

Elective egg freezing and its underlying socio-demography: a binational analysis with global implications

“…What we see, then, are the difficult choices currently facing educated women in the US, Israel, and in many other nations regarding partnership and family formation [ 30 , 31 ]. In this new era of EEF, “to freeze or not to freeze” has become the leading question among societies’ most educated women [ 13 ].…”

Elective oocyte cryopreservation for age-related fertility decline

“…Similarly, in the USA, fertility preservation cycles increased from 9607 in 2017 to 13,275 in 2018 [ 37 ]. Developing countries are following similar trends [ 38 ].…”