Nottingham women using ‘social egg freezing’ to put work before childbirth

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More young Nottingham women are freezing their eggs to prioritise careers over having children.

Known as ‘social freezing’, the practice is becoming increasingly popular among women who want to put off starting a family.

The treatment has previously been mainly popular with women facing medical problems.

But Care Fertility Nottingham, which offers the treatment for around £2,500, says it has seen a big rise in the number of local women in their twenties and thirties wanting to preserve their eggs for later life.

Egg freezing is like a pension plan

Maha Ragunath, medical director of the centre, said: “In the past women stayed at home, kept house and made babies, so they could have babies whenever they wanted.

“Now women are progressively career oriented and I think the concept of egg freezing is like a pension plan, the security of being able to freeze their eggs empowers them to put off child bearing until later on.”

The female ovaries age as the body gets older, and according to Ms Ragunath, the ideal age for having children is between the age of 25-30 years.

The option of freezing eggs can enable women to use 30 year-old eggs when they are 50 years-old and have the same success rate as if they were 30 years-old, although success is not guaranteed.

Video: Professor Simon Fishel talks about the success rates of using frozen eggs

Deborah Labbate, a Nottingham business consultant, said she could understand why the treatment was becoming more popular.

She said: “I wouldn’t judge someone for doing it, it’s the individuals option to freeze their eggs but I can see why some people might have extreme views against it.

“I sold my business when I was pregnant because working all the time would have been hard to do at the same time and I wanted a family more than running a business.”

The UK has seen a steady rise in older women having children who have decided to put it off having until having a stable career.

Deborah added: “Some women wait until they’re 40 and have got the career, house, and then perhaps think it is a good time to have children because then they will be able to financially offer more to their children.”

Video: Nottingham women’s views on ‘social freezing’

Companies like Facebook and Apple are offering their female staff the option to freeze their eggs so they can concentrate on their careers without worrying about starting a family.

 

 

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