Freezing women's eggs not risk-free or foolproof
Freezing a woman's eggs is neither risk-free nor foolproof, a British fertility expert said on Thursday, after Apple and Facebook said they would contribute to the cost of the procedure for female employees.
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Freezing a woman's eggs is neither risk-free nor foolproof, a British fertility expert said on Thursday, after Apple and Facebook said they would contribute to the cost of the procedure for female employees.
Raising the issue of companies' reasons for helping female employees meet the cost of freezing their eggs, Dr Jane Stewart, secretary of the British Fertility Society, said such payments were "not a positive move for women, their rights or their careers."
Women should be given the opportunity to have a baby at the right time for them, rather than when it is "convenient for the company," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"It's an interesting proposal, but I'm not sure what it will achieve as women will still need time off when they are pregnant," Stewart said in a phone interview.
"Why not just give women maternity leave and pay, and support them to come back on an equal footing after they've had their baby?"
"Although egg freezing is now considered a clinically effective measure, that doesn't mean it's risk-free or foolproof, and it certainly doesn't guarantee a baby," she said.
Apple has said that from January 2015 it will pay up to $20,000 for both full- and part-time female employees to freeze and store their eggs.
NBC News reported on Tuesday that Facebook recently began covering the cost of egg-freezing for non-medical reasons, making it one of the first major employers in the technology sector to do so.
A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed that the company had rolled out the benefit in January in response to requests from employees, among other reasons.
In a report published in October 2012, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) said that egg freezing was an exciting and improving technology, and should no longer be considered experimental.
However, ASRM said it could not endorse the widespread use of the practice, and said it may not be appropriate for older women who desire to postpone reproduction.
Egg freezing is an expensive but increasingly popular option for women, enabling them to delay child bearing. The procedure is also used by women who have to undergo medical treatments that interfere with fertility, such as cancer treatment.
The procedure typically costs up to $10,000, with an additional $500 a year for storage.
The British Fertility Society represents professionals practicing in the field of reproductive medicine.