The younger a woman was: Eighty percent of patients were between thirty-five and forty, and 12 percent were over the age of forty-one. Just 8 percent of patients were under the age of thirty-five when they underwent their first egg freezing cycle; the youngest patient was twenty-seven years old.
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transfer a single embryo: Embryos are graded at each point in their development to determine which ones are most likely to grow successfully when implanted. Thanks to scientific advances, doctors are now better able to select the best embryos to implant, which in turn allows them to transfer just one, rather than multiple, embryos into the womb at a time. Almost 95 percent of ART babies born in 2021 were singletons, compared to 80 percent in 2015.
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twenty eggs are recommended: E. Chronopoulou, C. Raperport, A. Sfakianakis, G. Srivastava, and R. Homburg, “Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation for Age-Related Fertility Decline,” Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 38, no. 5 (2021): 1177–1186, doi.org/10.1007/s10815-021-02072-w.
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“irrespective of age at freezing”: Kakkar et al., “Outcomes of Social Egg Freezing,” 4182.
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“clearly suggest that”: Chronopoulou et al., “Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation for Age-Related Fertility Decline,” 1177–1186.
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assign probabilities to egg freezing: R. H. Goldman, C. Racowsky, L. V. Farland, S. Munné, L. Ribustello, and J. H. Fox, “Predicting the Likelihood of Live Birth for Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation: A Counseling Tool for Physicians and Patients,” Human Reproduction 32, no. 4 (2017): 853–859, doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dex008.
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That’s pretty good: It’s worth noting, however, that in the paper’s conclusion the authoring physicians conceded that the numbers may be too optimistic, given “the paucity of validation data” available from women who have actually used frozen eggs to try to become pregnant.
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publicly available calculators: The one I like best is Spring Fertility’s, found at springfertility.com/eggcalc/.
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“when it comes to”: Jessica Hamzelou, “How Do I Know if Egg Freezing Is for Me?,” MIT Technology Review, January 27, 2023, technologyreview.com/2023/01/27/1067333/how-do-i-know-if-egg-freezing-is-for-me/.
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Chapter 9
Additional resources for topics mentioned in this chapter:
Comprehensive breakdown of egg freezing’s costs, including average costs by region:
fertilityiq.com/egg-freezing/the-costs-of-egg-freezing
Navigating specialty pharmacies:
resolve.org/learn/what-are-my-options/medications/specialty-pharmacies/
If you’re a self-pay fertility patient, be sure to ask the clinic(s) if they have discounted self-pay options for patients not using insurance. Speak with the specialty pharmacy where you’re buying fertility meds from about discounts, too.
State-by-state information about fertility insurance coverage laws (updated regularly):
Financial resources and financial assistance programs for fertility treatment:
resolve.org/learn/financial-resources-for-family-building/
allianceforfertilitypreservation.org/financial-assistance-programs/
Grants and charities:
fertilityiq.com/topics/fertilityiq-data-and-notes/free-ivf-grants-and-charities
Refund and “freeze-and-share” programs:
fertilityiq.com/topics/cost/ivf-refund-and-package-programs
cofertility.com/freeze-learn/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-split-program
“How do you build”: Kaitlyn Tiffany, “The SoulCycle of Fertility Sells Egg-Freezing and ‘Empowerment’ to 25-Year-Olds,” The Verge, September 11, 2018, theverge.com/2018/9/11/17823810/kindbody-startup-fertility-clinic-egg-freezing-millennials-location.
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“Just like Uber”: Angelina Chapin, “Egg Freezing for Millennials: The Latest Start-up Trend,” The Cut, February 28, 2017, thecut.com/2017/05/egg-freezing-clinics-for-millennials-a-new-start-up-trend.html.
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roughly $16,000 per cycle: As egg freezing has exploded in popularity over the last several years, I’ve seen cost estimates ballparked as low as $7,000 and as high as $20,000. One reason it’s hard to get a handle on the costs is that many clinics are not transparent about their pricing. Another is that the cost of egg freezing varies due to several factors: where in the country a woman is doing it; the amount of hormone medications required for her particular cycle; how long she pays to keep them stored on ice; what the clinic charges for ultrasound monitoring, anesthesia, and lab processing; and more. Also, fertility treatment prices across the board have gone up in recent years as materials and operating costs have increased. Finally, women often end up paying more for egg freezing than the sticker price they’ve seen advertised. The current cost estimates I explain here take all this into account.
