It’s natural to assume that having your eggs frozen means you have a reliable path to motherhood when you’re ready in the future. That’s why you went ahead and had your eggs frozen, right? Why else would you have invested time and money into the procedure if it was not going to provide you with some type of safety net down the line?
It’s incredibly important today to realize that egg freezing is not a fertility insurance policy. It’s a back-up plan with promising fertility potential, but it is not an end-all, be-all solution. To put all your eggs in one basket and depend on it will result in debilitating emotional side effects that can stay with you for a lifetime.
No Guarantee of Success
The success rate of egg freezing is determined by the age of the woman at the time of the egg freezing cycle. Before the age of 35, egg quality is much higher than if a woman crosses the 35-year-old threshold. The success also depends on the number of eggs being frozen. More eggs are required for a better outcome since there is no guarantee of successfully thawing, fertilization or implantation.
Even after all of that: there is no guarantee of success. Medical professionals are warming up to the idea of egg freezing after the experimental label of this procedure was lifted in 2012, with close to 2,000 babies to date having been born from frozen eggs in the U.S. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) still don’t endorse social egg freezing solely because of its promotion of delaying motherhood. They only endorse the procedure for medical reasons, such as freezing eggs prior to cancer treatment.
Be Proactive with Family Building
Studies show that the main reason for women to seek egg freezing is because they don’t have a partner to start their family with. Egg freezing, quite simply, does not stop a woman’s biological clock. Postponement of childbearing may lower a woman’s chance of becoming a parent.
Although women are able to freeze their eggs in time today, they can’t freeze their wombs. It’s generally riskier for women at an advanced maternal age to carry a pregnancy compared to younger women. The uterus may not age as quickly as the ovaries, but for older women, there are numerous risks for both the mother and baby associated with pregnancy.
Back-Up Fertility Plan
That doesn’t mean that egg freezing isn’t a viable and responsible decision when viewed from a back-up perspective. For women who are not ready to have children for various personal and social reasons, having a back-up plan is better than not having one at all.
FrzMyEggs
While you ponder your decision to freeze your eggs, we have a resourceful and information-based mobile app that can help you calculate how many eggs you need to freeze for a successful live birth, and if you are leaning towards or away from egg freezing through interactive quizzes.
We want to stress that for emotional reasons, consider egg freezing a back-up plan. It is never a fertility insurance policy. Be proactive with family planning today.
References
- Egg Freezing Resource Library, Eggsurance
- Resources, Eggsperience
- FrzMyEggs app