How egg freezing is changing the way we make babies

I went to a talk last week with?Spring Fertility?in New York. I learned about the science of egg freezing and how it’s expanding fertility options for women looking to conceive.

My interest in fertility preservation is both personal and professional.

As a healthcare consultant, I’ve advised companies developing assisted reproductive technologies used to treat infertility.

On a personal level: I have a family member who was conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Many of my female friends are freezing their eggs. I’ve spoken to them about the challenges finding reliable information about fertility treatments, and the expense in both time and money. I know how emotionally charged these decisions can be.

And yes—I am single and childless. I hope to have kids someday. The more I learn about egg freezing and IVF, the more likely it seems these fertility treatments will be in my future.

Egg freezing 101

Here are some things I learned from?Dr. Catha Fischer, Medical Director at Spring Fertility New York.

Clinics like Spring Fertility help women understand the egg freezing process and share tools that help them determine their individual likelihood for success.

“The benefit of egg freezing is time—the option to use today’s eggs in the future, to pursue your dream career, to travel, to meet the right partner—all with the peace of mind that if you need help later on, you’ll have your younger eggs to work with.”

• Every year,?more families are being created through IVF and cryopreservation—the process whereby eggs are cooled to save them for future use.
• A woman in her 20s has a 25% chance of getting pregnant each month. By age 30, that likelihood has decreased to 20%, and?by age 40, the likelihood of getting pregnant is just 5% each month.?Why? Egg quality and quantity both decline with age, which impacts natural conception.
• Freezing your eggs allows you to essentially?stop the reproductive aging process?so that you can start / add to / complete your family whenever you’re ready, without the added pressure of your biological clock.
• More employers are starting to cover?egg freezing benefits.?Apple, Google and Facebook?offer egg freezing and IVF as employee benefits.
• Egg freezing clinics use?hormone injections?to help follicles grow together so they can retrieve as many mature, high quality eggs as possible. The ovarian stimulation process lasts 2 weeks and usually requires 5-6 office visits to monitor how the follicles are growing. This is assessed via ultrasound, hormone levels and blood tests.
• There is currently?no reliable way to test the quality?of individual eggs. Technology for this is in development, but it may be 10 years away, said Dr. Fischer.
• Egg freezing is expensive.?Cost varies by clinic, but women should expect to budget anywhere from $7k to $12k.

The mostly-female audience had many questions for Dr. Fischer. It’s clear there is high interest in egg freezing among New York women—many of whom have busy careers, are having babies later in life, and have the money to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses.

I asked Dr. Fischer about?at-home fertility testing.?She said at-home tests from services like?Modern Fertility?are not as reliable as the ones used in today’s clinics. However, their reliability is improving over time, and they may be helpful for people who don’t have access to an in-person clinic.

I asked Dr. Fischer: What advice would you give to men who want to support women who are considering freezing their eggs? She said:

“Get rid of the shame that comes with egg freezing. We need to normalize this procedure. Understand that women will go through emotional swings during the hormone treatments, and be gentle with them.”

More people are sharing their stories about egg freezing and infertility.?Pregnantish?is a media platform supporting men and women dealing with infertility and telling the stories of families built through science and technology (disclosure: I’m an adviser to the company). They feature:

• A?step-by-step egg freezing timeline?and an article on?how many eggs to freeze
• Podcasts on?advancements in the fertility field, how?cultural norms related to egg freezing are shifting, and?reality TV stars opening up?about their experiences with egg freezing
• Perspectives on?how egg freezing can affect a woman’s dating life

Among women who freeze their eggs, “most report an instant psychological boost.”?Research?from NYU found there is a positive “egg freezing effect”: More than 60 percent of women said it lessened “biological-clock pressure” when dating. One-fourth said that freezing their eggs helped them feel more relaxed, focused, and less desperate, with more time to find the right partner.

Fertility treatments are improving

New technology is making egg freezing and IVF safer and more reliable.?IVF success rates have been increasing.

I spoke to a reproductive endocrinologist. He said embryo transfer can be tricky and affect IVF success rates, but the technology is improving:

“IVF labs have gotten a lot better. The risk of multiple pregnancy is lower. Ten years ago, 10% of IVF babies were triplets, but now it’s less than 1%.”

A company called?TMRW Life Sciences?helps safeguard frozen fertility cells used for IVF. The technology ensures that a patient’s frozen specimens are traceable using radio frequency identification (RFID) and safely maintained at ultra-low temperatures.

Better tracking and transparency can provide more peace of mind for doctors, embryologists, and patients.

The future of fertility

Egg freezing technology is making it easier for women to conceive on their terms. Yet challenges remain. Cost and access are big issues. Not all women can afford to pay for fertility treatments.

With?Roe v. Wade?in jeopardy, access to IVF clinics in some states may be restricted. As many as?30 states could ban IVF?if?Roe?is overturned.

There’s a clear need to improve access to fertility solutions. Birthrates are declining globally. Nations like?Italy,?Japan?and?China?are struggling with fertility crises. The?US birthrate in 2021?saw its largest drop in nearly 50 years.

Fertility preservation via egg freezing and IVF are an important part of the solution. We should support women who choose these treatments to gain control of their family planning.