With so many technological advancements in the medical field, a lot of women and men have had an easier time making difficult decisions. Especially, when it comes to women and their fertility. One of the biggest advancements in the medical field is freezing the eggs, or also known as, Oocyte Cryopreservation. Considering the fact that the older women get, the lower egg counts become. Freezing the eggs allows a lot of women to worry less about having kids in the present and have them later in life. Even though this procedure seems marvelous, unfortunately, it does come at a price.
There are three parts to freezing the eggs. The first part is ovulation induction, where the woman will start her treatment of taking hormones to produce multiple eggs during her menstruation. Following the ovulation induction, comes the egg retrieval. The doctor will insert a suction device into the vagina and retrieve the eggs. It usually takes 15-20 minutes. The last step is freezing. This is where the eggs are cooled and frozen to stop any biological activity. Even though it does not sound too time consuming or a deathly procedure, for a woman to freeze her eggs, it cost about $10,000 to harvest the eggs. After they are retrieved and frozen, for the next x amount of years the woman wants to keep her egg frozen, it would could cost her $500 for every year. Then comes inserting the eggs back into the ovaries, which costs about $5,000.
Overall, this procedure cost about $15,500 if the women wants to keep her eggs frozen for a year. For every year, she keeps them frozen, the more money she has to pay. On the bright side, this procedure allows women to control their life. They can make decisions based on what they want. If they want to focus on school and want to have kids later on, they can do this procedure. If they want to focus on their career but want kids, this procedure allows them to delay having kids. If they simply do not want to have kids now or in 10 years but there is a slight chance they might want kids in the next 15 years, this procedure is for them. Not only that, many companies are paying their high executives for this specific procedure. Even though the cost is high, there are some benefits that outweigh the cost.
References:
“Egg Freezing.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 30 Dec.
2017, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/egg-freezing/about/pac-20384556.
Neighmond, Patti. “Women Can Freeze Their Eggs For The Future, But At A Cost.” NPR, NPR,
16 Oct. 2014, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/10/16/356727823/freezing-a-womans….