The Wall Street Journal-20080214-Why Some Single Women Choose to Freeze Their Eggs
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Why Some Single Women Choose to Freeze Their Eggs
Full Text (727 words)Lucia Vazquez, 33, a single New Yorker, is a sensible professional, her friends say. She works hard at her career as a medical-supplies saleswoman, invests in stocks, has owned a house and doesn't take undue risks.
So why did Ms. Vazquez recently spend $12,000 on a medical procedure -- freezing and storing her eggs for a possible future pregnancy -- that some experts warn has a low chance of success and shouldn't be used by women like her? With a busy career and no plans for marriage soon, Ms. Vasquez explains, egg freezing eases her worries "about the clock ticking."
As more women delay marriage and child-bearing, a small but growing number are having their eggs frozen in hopes of improving their chances of having children later. Some fertility clinics are creating a buzz by marketing egg freezing on the Internet and through presentations to such groups as 85 Broads, a Greenwich, Conn.-based professional women's network. The push has touched off a debate among physicians about appropriate use of the technology.
Egg freezing, or "oocyte cryopreservation," entails taking drugs to stimulate ovulation, then having eggs extracted surgically, frozen and stored for in vitro fertilization. Human eggs are difficult to freeze without damaging them; only about 500 babies have been born from frozen eggs. The procedure, which ranges from about $9,000 to $14,000, has been used as a way to preserve fertility for cancer patients facing treatments likely to render them sterile.
There are two distinct points of view on whether egg freezing should be promoted to healthy women. In a report last December, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommended against it, calling it "an experimental procedure" and citing research showing only 2% to 4% of frozen eggs thawed yield live births. Also, experts say, it's not yet clear whether babies born from such eggs will face any long-term health problems.
Glenn Schattman, a co-author of the report and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, says women risk making important life decisions based on "false assumptions" that their fertility is secure.
But advocates of expanding egg freezing say average success rates per patient are much higher, because women produce numerous eggs; also, the technology is improving. Christy Jones, a former Internet entrepreneur and founder of Extend Fertility in Woburn, Mass., which offers egg freezing through clinics in six states and promotes it to women's groups, says women should be informed about the technology and allowed to decide for themselves.
While most women wait until their late 30s to freeze eggs, Extend Fertility is promoting the procedure at younger ages, when the chances of success are higher, says Alan Copperman, director of reproductive endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and a clinical adviser to the firm.
Pros and cons aside, more women are embracing the technology for their own, highly personal reasons. For Nicki Armstrong, 38, a Salt Lake City sales manager who was divorced in 2006, the process preserves hopes of having a close family, and giving her parents the gift of grandchildren. She keeps a laboratory photo of her eggs, which she calls her "maybe babies," tacked to her home-office bulletin board. Becoming a mother is No. 1 among Megan Griswold's priorities. Lacking the right partner, the Boulder, Colo., actress and author says, she froze her eggs at 36. She's still intent on marrying and having babies the traditional way, but sees egg freezing as maximizing her opportunities for motherhood.
The medical questions about egg freezing are serious and legitimate. However, as one who wanted children so much that I initiated a foster- parent application before meeting my husband back in the 1970s, I can understand its appeal. Women considering it should research the risks and find a clinic with a track record of egg-freezing success. Doctors should readily share data about live births from eggs frozen at that site.
Ms. Vazquez, an Extend Fertility client, knows the odds, but her heart speaks louder. For her, egg freezing eases the pressure she feels from family members to have kids; she also may donate eggs to a sister with fertility issues. It takes "a leap of faith. If it works, fantastic," she says. If she needs the eggs and "it doesn't work, I will be heartbroken. But at the same time, what's the alternative?"
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