Hi Ladies,
We want to know your thoughts on the following: Should healthy young women be able to freeze their eggs?
Post away!

I sitting here laughing at myself...when I first read the title, I thought:

a) I didn't know you could freeze eggs and
b) What's the big debate over doing so?

Suffice to say, a couple of seconds later the penny dropped and I realised we're not talking chicken eggs, but human ones

Me too

In all seriousness...yes, you should be able to freeze your eggs whether you are healthy or not. My cousin was told she had cancer and they had to start treatment straight away and no time to take eggs, she's still alive but had to have a hysterectomy so no chance of having her own little kiddies but if she'd frozen them then who knows?????

I know that nobody knows what is around the corner but I don't see a problem with it.

The tiltle seems to be bit funny. Womens can definetly freeze their eggs

For sure, I think healthy young women should be able to freeze their eggs. Especially if they are able to pay for it. Men are able to freeze their sperm, so I don't see a problem in things being the same for women.

I think the issue that could crop up down the track is the fact that what happens with the eggs after a certain period of time? Could they be used for some sort of research? What if that happened against the knowledge of the 'owner' of the eggs?

The other issue is, it could easily become a legal issue. What if they are stored as fertilised eggs, and something happens to break the couple up, or one of the couple passes away.... there would be massive legal ramifications about the rights of the other partner and if they wanted to still use the fertilised egg perhaps in a surrogate.

Also, not that I would want to deny someone the chance of becoming a mother, as it is such a beautiful thing, but I do disagree with women becoming mothers past a certain age... ie. especially those over 60. It has happened overseas, and who is to say that it won't happen here in Australia? A woman might decide after 20-30 years that she now has a partner or has a sperm donor and wants to use her eggs... there are many ethical dilemmas that can crop up there, and while it may not be legal just yet, anything can happen.

All in all, there are potentially many ethical and moral issues that could potentially arise over having frozen eggs. While I don't disagree with it, who is going to be the decider on these issues? Ultimately it would likely be the government, and there will always be people who disagree with the government. I don't think it's as simple as saying yes or no. JMO.

Absolutely!! You never know what the future holds.

A beautiful friend of mine, had her DS at 25 years old, found out when he was 3 months old that she had stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma, chemo & radiation for the next year and here she is down the track a couple of years and in recovery!! Now trying to have another baby, so far unsuccessfully, at this stage they have not looked into what the quality of her eggs are actually like - there is always the chance they are now very damaged and of cause hoping that they are not.
There wasn't a chance for her to do a round of IVF before starting chemo, they suggested it and then made the recommendation that they don't wait the 4-6 weeks because at that stage it could be the matter of life and death for her.

Just one example that we don't know what is in our future, although the odds of a 25-year old wanting to harvest and freeze eggs doesn't seem very high IMO.

kazz&bianca - very valid points. I am also not picking on you, just adding some information as someone who has done IVF since your post has a lot of good questions and for people who are not aware of the process I thought I would add a couple of answers. Most of what you have addressed has already been ironed out. As anyone who undergoes IVF treatments has to fill out mountains of paperwork to cover all events that could occur.

I think the issue that could crop up down the track is the fact that what happens with the eggs after a certain period of time? Could they be used for some sort of research? What if that happened against the knowledge of the 'owner' of the eggs?

It is up to the individual. They could be donated to another person, used for research or destroyed. You can change your mind at any stage, so what you sign and agree to now can be changed down the track.

The other issue is, it could easily become a legal issue. What if they are stored as fertilised eggs, and something happens to break the couple up, or one of the couple passes away.... there would be massive legal ramifications about the rights of the other partner and if they wanted to still use the fertilised egg perhaps in a surrogate.

Again as above, if it is a frozen embryo both parties have to sign a form saying what they would like to happen in case of death or divorce. Both parties would need to agree upon the female being able to use the embryo down the track if divorce or death happened (and again either partners can change their mind at any stage). If 1 partner says no, they would like it destroyed then this is what will happen. Both partners have to agree on using or donating.

Also, not that I would want to deny someone the chance of becoming a mother, as it is such a beautiful thing, but I do disagree with women becoming mothers past a certain age... ie. especially those over 60. It has happened overseas, and who is to say that it won't happen here in Australia? A woman might decide after 20-30 years that she now has a partner or has a sperm donor and wants to use her eggs... there are many ethical dilemmas that can crop up there, and while it may not be legal just yet, anything can happen.

I completely agree with the age thing! Some boundaries have to happen. Obviously at this stage, an egg lasting 20-30 years and being successful just isn't going to happen and there certainly isn't the medical documented proof of it. But down the track, yep technology could get there and I believe there would have to be strict policies in place.
When I first started IVF I was told embryos could be stored for 5 years, I have a feeling this may have changed to 10 years though over the years? Certainly overseas they have different protocols and 10 years might be standard.
A frozen egg has less chance of thawing, fertilised and becoming a viable pregnancy and resulting in a live pregnancy than what a frozen embryo has. However, the benefit of frozen eggs is if you have not met your life partner than you could freeze eggs instead of choosing donated sperm, with the intention of using them down the track if needed.

Basically - people are freezing eggs for different reasons, and IMO it isn't too different to doing IVF. Research and techniques are developing every day which is a great thing, because I know that even a couple of years ago it was thought to be silly to freeze eggs since they probably wouldn't last long in a freezer anyways. Another girlfriend of mine, at 32 had breast cancer, this was 3 years ago now. She did 1 round of IVF and they told her she had to choose a sperm donor because they don't freeze just eggs. She wasn't married or in a relationship but did see children in her future. A mute point, because she has managed to fall pregnant and has a beautiful baby boy now with her fiancee.

Would be great to have an option of freezing eggs, would be great to have even more research and development into it so that the viability and likelihood of a take home baby at the end is a real possibility.