The 'boom' of egg freezing: "For 4,000 euros I have gained time. I don't want to blame it in the future"

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In 2014, large companies such as Facebook and Apple surprised with pioneering measures: they announced that they would cover the costs of freezing eggs for their employees.

The initiative sought to retain and attract female talent, while lightening, at least for a few years, the dilemma between work and motherhood.

Soon other companies, also in Spain, included these similar benefits in their contracts.

In this part of the story, a

-old woman can be a

.

Maybe she has achieved a certain professional status, maybe she goes to the gym, maybe she dresses up.

But the biological clock ticks wickedly and she says that, since she was 35, her fertility has dropped remarkably.

Thus, when looking for a pregnancy, problems arise, because the age that matters for these purposes is the biological one, not the one that appears.

If they waited to become mothers until they achieved job, economic and/or sentimental stability, unfortunately, it is not relevant to their reproductive system.

According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Spanish women are mothers of their first child at

of age and, on average, have 1.16 children.

Statistics say that from year to year, in our country the first figure always increases and the second always decreases.

"I don't want 4,000 euros to separate me from a dream"

Ginefiv Clinics

Ana Castellanos (Madrid, 36 years old) had been thinking about vitrifying her ovules for some time.

A few months ago, at 35, she took the plunge.

"I want to be a mother, but not above all things. Now I don't have a partner and my desire is to do it in a family context. What I do by freezing my ovules is to buy time and peace of mind."

According to Dr. Joaquín Llácer, medical director of the Ginefiv Clinics, the process usually costs between 2,500 and 4,000 euros.

It is a simple technique that requires about 15 days to complete and, after a phase of ovarian stimulation with external medication, ovulation is induced and the oocytes are collected.

The intervention does not require hospitalization and

"The technique has improved the efficiency of the process and thawed oocytes show excellent success rates and safety for the newborn similar to that seen with the use of fresh oocytes," he says.

Ana paid about 4,000 euros, to which she has to add

"It's a small pinch, but I don't want to blame it in the future or for that money to separate me from a dream that I don't have now, but that tomorrow may be a priority for me," she says.

He admits that it is not a subject that is discussed in public, although he believes that, given reality, "it must be normalized."

And that reality shows that egg freezing is on the rise.

According to the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF), in 2010 the women who preserved their fertility in order to delay their maternity were, in round numbers,

;

in 2015, 1,400;

in 2019, 4,400;

and in 2020, a year marked by confinement,

.

The increase is evident.

Inés (Madrid, 36 years old) will vitrify her ovules next month.

She had an ovarian reserve study last year and she turned out to have a biological age of 25 years.

"I repeated it recently and I had already gone up to 28, which is very good, but it progresses quickly and it is certain that if I try to get pregnant in a few years, my eggs will be worse," she says.

Now she does not have a partner, but she is looking for an extension of her fertile life with this treatment: "This way I

I prefer to avoid difficulties in the future or go out with someone and look for a child right away. It's money, but even my brothers offer to lend it to me. It also seems a priority to them".

What women freeze their eggs?

Ginefiv Clinics

Dr. Joaquín Llácer, given that from the age of 35 a woman's ovules decrease in number and quality, he recommends vitrifying them before this age.

This is how he describes the profile of the women who decide to do it to plan their maternity: they are between

She affirms that not only has vitrification increased exponentially for more than 10 years, but since the pandemic they have observed an increase in this interest: "Many women have wanted to preserve their fertility due to the ignorance of what could happen in a few years. Some , due to their own fear that Covid-19 could affect their reproductive capacities and others, having lost their economic stability, have decided to postpone their pregnancy.

Doesn't Public Health cover it?

The preservation of fertility in a woman is a treatment paid for by Public Health for health reasons, that is, for having fertility problems or pathologies that affect her chances of conceiving.

Berta Martín is a gynecologist at the Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón and coordinator of the SEF Public Centers Interest Group and gives as an example women who have to receive chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment for

(since these drugs reduce ovarian reserve or cause menopause), who have

ovarian tumors,

, etc.

"The issue of covering vitrification to delay maternity for social reasons is not on the table," he says.

"However, we should be proactive in gynecology and Primary Care consultations in informing about this alternative. There are many women who are not aware of this possibility," she declares.

Regarding a future inclusion in public coverage, Martín specifies: "It would be necessary to see if it would be profitable. If a woman freezes at 25, perhaps at 32 she will become pregnant alone and that treatment would have led to an unnecessary increase in spending. It would have to be evaluated when vitrification begins to lose effectiveness," he concludes.

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