By Jessica Jaganathan
News Reporter
jessicaj@sph.com.sg

 

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, MARCH 8

WITH the birth of liberalisation and women's rights, many have turned to placing an added emphasis on their careers and holding off having babies until much later.

But by the time these women turn 40, the chances of conceiving falls to a ten per cent success rate and many are left wondering if having a career and a family is mutually exclusive.

The birth of a Singaporean baby through a rapid egg freezing method last year might change that dilemma.

Career-minded women the world over are opting to freeze the eggs they produce in their prime and return for IVF treatments only when they are ready to start a family.
This effectively stops their biological clock because when frozen, eggs stay at the age they were when they were extracted.

But in Singapore, Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines allow women to freeze eggs only for medical reasons and for up to five years. These women must also be married and must apply for permission to keep the eggs frozen beyond five years.

These rules mean that the group that benefits the most from this egg freezing method are those with cancer.

As treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy can make a woman barren, she can now opt to have her eggs frozen ahead of these treatments for use down the road.

But, if the health ministry decides to allow egg freezing for social reasons, the implications are broad.

A British tabloid wrote this last year: “Picture the scene, high streets across the country filled with women in their fifties and sixties pushing buggies, a whole new generation of 'ice babies'.”

As attractive an option as it seems to push your biological clock back, is it possible to foster a healthy relationship with your child when you are 50 years older?

Not too long ago, this would have been the age gap between a grandparent and grandchild.

There are also medical implications. Although there have been about 200 births from this method worldwide, there are no guarantees that stored eggs will result in a live birth.

The long-term health implications for children born from frozen eggs are also unknown. Plus, there is the pain and suffering of going through IVF itself, which only has a 30 per cent success rate.

Fertility experts worldwide have also warned that a rise in the number of women freezing eggs for social reasons to delay pregnancy could divert valuable resources away from helping those with fertility problems.

Freezing eggs for social and not medical reasons also means that the hospital or medical centre is dealing with a customer and not an infertile patient.

Managing customer expectations is different than with infertile patients as there is nothing “wrong” with them and they are using a service.So insurance might become an issue as customers who do not get pregnant might become litigious.

There is also the question of technological changes. Who knows what the quality of frozen eggs from 10 years ago will be like and there might be more advanced methods of freezing in the future.

So, instead of cheering the birth of technology that allows us to have babies later, it is imperative we sit down and think about its implications.

The saying “be careful what you wish for” might certainly hold true here.