The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast on egg freezing (21 September) was excellent. But, as with other media reporting on the recent egg freezing extension, there is one key point it failed to highlight. While plans to extend the storage limit from 10 to 55 years are indeed a welcome step in enabling women to freeze their eggs when they are younger and the quality of their eggs (and thus chance of success) is higher, cost remains a major barrier to the treatment.
With the average total cost of egg freezing sometimes reaching more than £6,000, if we don’t bring the price down we create a system of reproductive inequality. We can’t be in a position where only the rich can afford to have the choice to freeze and the poor do not.
For the true success of the storage extension, egg freezing must be made more affordable and accessible to younger women by lowering the total cost of treatment. Egg freezing has enormous potential to empower women with reproductive choices and help close the gender fertility gap, but the key to its success lies in improving the affordability of this treatment.
Prof Geeta Nargund
Medical director, ABC IVF
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