To help mothers make the decision to have children more freely

New British rules allow egg freezing for 55 years

Current arrangements for oocyte storage are severely restricted.

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New UK rules will allow women to freeze eggs for 55 years.

Ministers suggested that legal storage limits on eggs, sperm and embryos should be revised from the maximum, set at 10 years, and should no longer be subject to medical need.

Currently, the eggs of women whose fertility is affected are stored for five decades, but all other women's eggs are destroyed after ten years.

Doctors say the current limit beyond which prospective parents must decide whether to undergo fertility treatment or cell destruction is too restrictive.

Under the proposed system, prospective parents would be given the option of keeping frozen cells or embryos, or discarding them, at intervals.

British Health Minister Sajid Javid said the scheme would give prospective parents more freedom in deciding when to have children.

He explained that "current storage arrangements can be severely restrictive for those who make the important decision about when to start a family," continuing: "This new legislation will help stop the clock in people's minds, and technological innovations have changed the equation in recent years, including egg freezing. Clearly, this progress is putting more power in the hands of potential parents."

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