More Women Freeze Eggs to Freeze Biological Clock, says Study

More and more women are choosing to have their eggs frozen as a means of preserving their fertility in Canada, five years after McGill University presented to the public the first successful birth using frozen eggs.

As a result, more and more women are feeling empowered with a way of not being beaten by their biological clock and losing a way to conceive as they age and their fertility wanes.

At present, around 30 babies have been born using frozen eggs from the McGill Reproductive Centre.
To freeze eggs, the procedure, which has been legalized, involves sinking the frozen eggs into liquid nitrogen at -195 degrees Celsius.

According to McGill Reproductive Center founder Dr. Seang Lin Tan, freezing eggs will help many women in their 30s who are without a partner and/or are not prepared yet to become mothers. “Every year across the country there are many women in their 30s who, because they don’t have a partner, choose anonymous sperm donation. If they were given a choice to freeze their own eggs and have a child with someone later, rather than use an anonymous sperm donor, many women would prefer that.”

He still emphasizes though that freezing eggs is but an alternative and not a replacement for natural reproduction. Every year across the country there are many women in their 30s who, because they don’t have a partner, choose anonymous sperm donation. If they were given a choice to freeze their own eggs and have a child with someone later, rather than use an anonymous sperm donor, many women would prefer that.”


Photo from flickr.com

SOURCES:
•    Atula. January 19, 2011. “More Women Freezing Eggs to Freeze Their Biological Clock” GrowingYourBaby.com
•    January 17, 2011. “Postmedia papers – Freezing the tick-tock of the biological clock” McGill.CA