Two years after the outbreak of Covid-19 led to economic turmoil, many women reconsidered their decision to have children and chose to freeze their eggs to wait for the right opportunity.
Egg freezing is a method to preserve a woman’s fertility. Eggs are taken from the ovaries, frozen and preserved for a long time, when necessary, they will be thawed and artificially inseminated to form embryos, from which to re-implant into the pregnant woman’s uterus.
Egg freezing is an alternative for people who don’t yet want to get pregnant, but still want to have children later, says Dr. Hanh Cottrell, IVF Michigan Center for Fertility.
“The pandemic gives us a lot of time to rethink our current and future goals. In the context of Covid-19 still spreading, many people are hesitant about planning to get pregnant,” she said.
Many women choose to freeze their eggs because there is no suitable marriage partner.
“They haven’t found a life partner yet because social distancing has limited communication. Therefore, they delayed starting a family and decided to freeze their eggs to have more flexibility in future marriage decisions.” , said Dr. Cottrell.
In 2018, IVF Michigan Fertility Center received 31 use of egg freezing services. In 2022, the number increased to 60 cases, expected to increase in the near future.
According to the Assisted Reproductive Technology Association, the trend of egg freezing has also increased slightly since before the pandemic. In the US, in 2019 alone, more than 16,000 egg freezing cycles were performed, up from 13,000 in 2018.
Singapore recorded a similar trend. Egg freezing was once banned in this country. In March, the government made a breakthrough when it announced that from 2023, single women aged 21-35 will be allowed to freeze eggs.
A clinic in Malaysia is chosen by many Singaporean women to freeze their eggs. Image: BBC
Previously, people who wanted to freeze their eggs had to go abroad. Gwendolyn Tan is one of them. The 31-year-old woman has always wanted to have children, but has not been able to find a life partner. The best solution at the moment is to freeze the eggs, to ensure that dating and marriage won’t happen just for the sake of having children.
Egg freezing is not cheap. Tan boarded a plane alone to the Thai capital Bangkok, spending S$15,000 ($10,900) for this service.
A clinic in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur noted an increasing number of Singaporean women coming for egg freezing procedures, especially in 2021.
Many people think that freezing eggs could help boost Singapore’s low birth rate, which is the world’s closest in the world. In 2020, the fertility rate is at an historic low of 1.1 births per woman, less than half of the global average of 2.4.
Unlike freezing fertilized eggs (embryo cryopreservation), egg freezing does not require sperm. However, the person wishing to have this procedure will need to use fertility drugs to stimulate ovulation and produce more eggs.
Experts point to a number of risks associated with egg freezing. In rare cases, the use of injectable fertility drugs, such as synthetic follicle-stimulating hormone or luteinizing hormone to stimulate ovulation, can cause the ovaries to swell and become painful during menstruation. ovulate or retrieve eggs. This is called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Patients can also experience complications when the eggs are re-implanted into the body. The use of needle aspiration can cause bleeding, infection, or damage to the intestines, bladder, or blood vessels, but is rare.
Thuc Linh (According to Fox News, BBC, Mayo Clinic)
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