Egg freezing involves many legal and ethical issues. my country has not yet liberalized the egg freezing policy for single women
Is egg freezing really the "only regret medicine"
● Some agencies or intermediaries that freeze eggs claim that freezing eggs is "pre-preservation of the'hope of tomorrow'" and "maternity insurance for urban professional women with forward thinking"
● Some people in the industry bluntly say that they are very opposed to describing frozen eggs as a "future insurance" because it is more like an "expensive lottery ticket" and involves many legal and social ethical issues
● The "Administrative Measures on Human Assisted Reproductive Technology" stipulate that the application of human assisted reproductive technology should be carried out in medical institutions, for medical purposes, and in line with national family planning policies, ethical principles and relevant legal regulations.
At the same time, the "Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Standards" also explicitly prohibits the implementation of human assisted reproductive technology for couples and single women who do not comply with the national population and family planning laws and regulations.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Gu Xiaoyan, our intern
In recent years, with the advancement of technology and the exposure of related cases, egg freezing technology, an important part of contemporary human assisted reproductive technology, has begun to receive widespread attention.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily noted during the investigation that some egg freezing institutions or intermediaries claimed that egg freezing is "pre-preservation of the'hope of tomorrow'" and "maternity insurance for urban professional women with forward thinking."
Earlier, a female star who had chosen to freeze eggs also said in an interview with the media, "This is the only regret medicine in the world."
In fact, there are more facts that need to be known to the public about the high cost of freezing eggs and its success rate.
Some insiders bluntly say that they are very opposed to describing frozen eggs as a "future insurance" because it is more like an "expensive lottery ticket" and involves many legal and social ethical issues.
Frozen eggs cost more
Related risks cannot be ignored
Enter "frozen eggs" in the search engine, and you can see the advertisements of many medical service organizations at home and abroad.
Among them, it is stated that this is a maternity insurance for urban professional women with forward-thinking thinking. In the golden age when young ovarian function has not yet declined, it will save "tomorrow's hope" in advance.
Other institutions said that it can enable elite women with mid-to-high-end spending power in China to achieve birth liberation in advance, and to avoid the trouble of fertility at an advanced age.
The 34-year-old Younger attended a cocktail party on the theme of frozen eggs.
"The organizer of this event is Egg Bank, a startup company that promotes frozen egg financing-in their words, maternity insurance for urban professional women with forward-thinking thinking." Yang Ge said.
According to data provided by Fertility IQ, an online center for fertility information, the medication and storage equipment needed to store eggs cost between US$15,000 and US$20,000.
Usually, people need to freeze multiple eggs to ensure the success rate of pregnancy after many years.
The best age for freezing eggs is between 25 and 35 years old. The older you are when you freeze the eggs, the lower the probability of giving birth to a healthy baby.
It is best for women under 35 to freeze 15 to 20 eggs, and for women between 35 and 40 years to freeze 20 to 30 eggs.
The older women are, the more money they pay for freezing their eggs.
If the patient wants to use the eggs through in vitro fertilization, an additional $22,000 will be required.
Ma Huan, who had frozen eggs abroad in the past two years, introduced that although going abroad to freeze eggs circumvents relevant domestic regulations, the cost is relatively high and requires certain financial strength. "The medical expenses in countries where I do egg freezing operations are about 20,000 US dollars. The storage fee is $600 per year, which is not affordable for all single women who want to freeze their eggs."
Therefore, more and more medical institutions have begun to vigorously promote the advantages of egg freezing.
After comparing several institutions, Ma Huan found that the hospitals that provide egg freezing services are trying their best to downplay their shortcomings, and try to persuade users to buy a "maternity insurance" to hide the hidden dangers and additional conditions in the "insurance" as much as possible.
This is how Zhu Pei, a graduate of a prestigious school and a single woman, was moved.
At the age of 35, Zhu Pei began to think about "what in life has to do now, if you don't do it, it will be too late". After thinking about it, she found that there was only "giving a baby".
To this end, she thought of three solutions: one is to marry as soon as possible; the other is to give birth to one by herself first; and the third is to freeze the eggs while the quality of the eggs is not bad.
In the end, she chose to freeze the eggs because of the higher controllability and lower operation difficulty.
"The cost is two months and 20,000 US dollars. The harvest is the unlimited possibilities and initiative in the future. Although the cost is not low, the price-performance ratio is still possible." Zhu Pei said, more importantly, "Time is not waiting", after all She is 35 years old.
"When I went to an institution for consultation, the receptionist told me that due to the decline in the number and quality of eggs, women’s fertility has declined significantly since the age of 37. However, if fresh eggs from young donors are used, fresh eggs are collected from the donor’s body. The eggs are transplanted into the uterus of the donor after fertilization, and the live birth rate of women of all ages in an IVF cycle has increased to 56%. Now, with this new freezing technology, women can become themselves Future egg donors no longer need to rely on fresh eggs from young donors.” Zhu Pei recalled, “I was actually moved by the last sentence. As a woman, it is great to have such autonomy. ."
"After listening to the preaching of the organization, I was very anxious because I was convinced that if I didn't freeze the eggs, I would regret it when I was 40." Zhu Pei said, "Wait a few more years, and I won't have a chance to toss." She decided to "freeze" first, and how to use it later.
Later, she selected a well-known doctor in the United States to perform egg freezing operations-unlike China, the states in the United States do not prohibit women from freezing eggs, but they will not actively persuade healthy women to save eggs.
Freezing technology is still immature
Policies and regulations have not been released
Many years ago, 30-year-old Wang Jia found out that she had endometriosis (a disease that often leads to infertility). In addition, she had lost an ovary. An expert in fertility preservation advised Wang Jia to freeze egg.
"I froze 22 eggs for $700 a year. These eggs are still stored in a freezing bank. At the time, this method was still experimental. The probability of these eggs being pregnant was very small, each of which was only 4%. Around, but these eggs are still very important to me." Wang Jia said, she is 36 years old now, although she is not ready to have children, but if you want, you can still have them.
"It is better to have a choice than no choice." Wang Jia said, this is the general direction of many such organizations, but the problem is that not only the probability of freezing eggs to conceive is disputed, but also the probability of finding a suitable partner to raise the child in time. , You have to calculate accurately if you make a wrong choice, you will regret it.
For many people, freezing eggs may just be "the doctor asked me to freeze and I will freeze", but the effectiveness and risks of freezing eggs are far from clear-the technology of freezing eggs is still too new.
According to Ju Suli, a professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Peking Union Medical College, egg freezing technology, as a derivative of human assisted reproductive technology, has gradually been used in medical practice at home and abroad.
The application of medical egg freezing is mainly aimed at the following two types of conditions. One is that female patients who have been diagnosed with cancer or other diseases need to receive radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery in the near future, which may affect ovarian function and cause ovaries. The consequences of premature aging and infertility; the second is for patients who have received conventional assisted reproductive technology treatment, have obtained more eggs during the ovulation induction cycle, and require egg freezing when sperm retrieval fails on the day of egg retrieval.
It is understood that my country's "Management Measures for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology" stipulates that the application of human assisted reproductive technology should be carried out in medical institutions, for medical purposes, and in line with national family planning policies, ethical principles and relevant legal regulations.
At the same time, the "Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulations" also explicitly prohibits the implementation of human assisted reproductive technology for couples and single women who do not comply with the national population and family planning laws and regulations.
"The egg freezing technology, as a derivative of human assisted reproductive technology, is also within the scope of prohibition. Therefore, the current application of this technology is limited to medical egg freezing of married women." Ju Suli said.
Regarding why domestic freezing of eggs for single women has not been released, Ju Suli analyzed that:
First, egg retrieval will cause a certain degree of harm to the female body.
In order to retrieve eggs, it is necessary to apply ovulation-stimulating drugs, which may lead to the risk of complications such as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, increased miscarriage rate, multiple pregnancy, and increased aneuploidy of the eggs, which are harmful to the body or potential harm Risks need to be carefully considered.
Second, the efficiency of using frozen eggs is very low.
Relevant studies have shown that when a woman who has frozen eggs wants to conceive, the first consideration is not to use the previously frozen eggs. When conditions permit, she will still try to conceive naturally.
At the same time, the preservation of frozen eggs requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and the use of frozen eggs is inefficient and cannot produce good social benefits. In addition to occupying medical resources, there is also a risk of eggs being commercialized.
Third, in theory, eggs can be stored for a long time in liquid nitrogen at -196℃, but if the storage time is too long, the activity and quality of the eggs may be affected, and the clinical pregnancy rate after thawing and resuscitation is not stable. The expected goal of freezing eggs to preserve fertility may not be achieved.
Fourth, the process of conception and pregnancy will be affected by many factors, especially the high-age birth increases the risk of adverse consequences during pregnancy.
According to Zheng Xueqian, vice president of the Chinese Society of Health Law, although egg freezing is one of the effective ways to preserve female fertility, it is not a non-invasive technique. Egg freezing has many problems in medical, ethical and legal aspects.
Zheng Xueqian believes that at the legal level, there may be a certain conflict between frozen eggs and my country's current laws.
For example, my country’s current monogamy system, and the existence of marriage laws, minor protection laws and other laws, all of which emphasize the principle of “raising children under traditional forms of marriage”.
If the policy of freezing eggs is liberalized, it is possible that many people will not follow the normal rules to give birth to children, which is contrary to the current legal system in our country.
At the social level, some social ethical issues may arise.
For example, women have not experienced the process of childbirth, have no feelings for their children, and have no sense of responsibility for their families and children, which can easily lead to casual abandonment.
From the perspective of single women’s own protection, single women also have certain difficulties in raising children, increasing their pressure and burden.
At the same time, it will increase social responsibility and bring a certain impact to social order.