The recent announcement by Facebook and Apple to help their women employees freeze their eggs if they chose to focus on their careers was met with mixed reactions. While many young women celebrated the move given that their aspirations and aims were being recognised; others wondered if it was such a sensible idea to encourage women to put motherhood on hold. Given the fact that the rigmarole of getting married and planning a family are no longer right on top of a woman’s priority, this option of volunteering to freeze their eggs (social egg preservation or cryopreservation) might just seem like godsend.
“Whenever there is new technology that offers new solutions people are bound to use it. As a lifestyle choice we are already doing a lot of things that were unimaginable earlier and if this gives women a chance to live a life they want then why not?” says Chandana Chakrabarti, social activist and writer. “If a woman chooses to build her career, realise her aspirations, do something meaningful and find the right partner then she should be able to. Given these circumstances I think this is a good solution for those who would like to use it. It might mean parenthood at a later age but on the upside they will be more mature when it comes to handling their children.”
For Aditi R., a 34-year-old software professional, the option seems like something she might consider. “I’ve been really busy with work the past few years and I enjoy what I do. But it has left me with little time to meet anyone new or consider settling down. Obviously then a pregnancy is not on the cards even though I would love to have children. So if I did have the option of freezing my eggs it would put me at ease in terms of my biological clock ticking and take off the pressure of having to marry just about anyone,” she says.
While there are many young women who would love to use the opportunity, there are some who are sceptical. Take for instance, 31-year-old Preethi A., who recently got married. The pressure has already been on her to think of having children, while she would like to give her marriage some time before she considers it. “Though I’d like to wait I wouldn’t want to freeze my eggs. Fortunately, I have a very supportive spouse and in-laws who know that things will fall in place at the right time. I’m sure my career too won’t be affected in the event of a pregnancy since I have a strong support system in my husband who goes out of his way to help me around the house. I don’t think I want to use technology for something that can happen naturally,” she says.
Medically too, doctors say that it isn’t as simple as it is made to seem. “What have we come to? Becoming a mother is a physiological and emotional experience. Maybe I’m old school but I’m wary of this voluntary egg freezing. While we do recommend it to women undergoing radiotherapy or chemotherapy to preserve their chances of becoming a mother, I wouldn’t encourage someone with a perfectly healthy chance at pregnancy to put it off. I’m wary of what kinds of doors this will open in the future. Besides, I’m not even sure if we have the technology to preserve the eggs to ensure a healthy baby later on,” says Dr Evita Fernandez, consultant obstetrician at Fernandez Hospital.
Dr Vyjayanthi, HOD, KIMS Fertility Centre, says, “While embryo freezing has been practiced for some time now and has better success rates, egg freezing is a relatively new phenomenon with a lower success rate. Even when we inform couples about the option of freezing eggs for medical reasons we tell them that technology is still in its nascent stages and the success rate of retrieval and fertilisation is low.” She adds that harvesting the eggs is no simple task. “The woman is put on high doses of hormones to increase egg production and one cycle can harvest only around 8 to 10 eggs. Apart from being an expensive procedure it can also be very taxing physically and emotionally on the woman,” she says.
“A low fertility level is not the only issue a woman should be concerned about while planning a late pregnancy. There are higher chances of miscarriages and genetic abnormalities like Down’s Syndrome. Also if the woman has become overweight with age then it automatically bumps up the risks of diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy,” cautions Dr Evita.
