Carol Chen has always wanted to be a mother.

37 years old and Asya was born in Texas, USA, but she has built her life and several fashion businesses in Singapore.

He turned 35 and started to worry when he couldn’t find the right partner.

Although Singapore is the last country to allow egg freezing for non-medical reasons and will implement it from 2023, when Chen decided it wasn’t possible, he turned to Texas to try it out.

«I had to freeze my eggs. It was now or neverChen narrated the show. BusinessDaily from the BBC.

“It turns out I don’t have that many eggs. It hurt me so much, it made me feel less of a woman. I just finished four. The probability of four eggs turning into a baby is almost zero, ”she said.

“Women in my situation usually pump a few laps (paid about $14,000 for one) but I couldn’t afford to commute to the US as I had my job in Singapore,” she added.

Given the high cost and competition to attract quality talent, more and more companies in countries like the US are offering egg freezing as a business advantage for their employees.

But Is this benefit always good news for women?

According to some studies, women with these plans are quite happy to have the option, but they also feel like their company is telling them: have children at the right time.

“Without options, they won’t have children”

Carol Chen said she met her current husband shortly after she froze her eggs in the US and was expecting her first baby without the help of science.

However, she is pleased that other women in Singapore can be free to choose this fertility procedure, which will be available in the country from next year.

There are still some barriers to access though: they must not be over 35 and cannot use them unless they are legally married to a man.

“More and more women are entering the labor market. If the option is not given, they will not have children. This is one reason why many countries are experiencing demographic crises because women are more focused on themselves,” Carol Chen said.

A decade ago, egg freezing ceased to be classified as an experimental medical procedure in the United States and is becoming more and more common. Even at work.

When? Facebook and Apple It began offering egg freezing benefits to female employees in 2014, the move seen as unconventional and targeting only a small portion of the workforce.

Sheryl Sandberg, now former COO of Facebook’s parent company META, explained why eight years ago they decided to offer this benefit to their female employees.

“A young woman who worked at Facebook had cancer and told me she was going to get treatment. This meant she couldn’t have children, so her second chance (becoming a mother) was to freeze her eggs. But she couldn’t afford it because her health insurance didn’t cover it,” she said.

“I talked to human resources and we came to the conclusion that we need to cover this cost for everyone, not just women with cancer. That’s when this benefit appeared and we think Fantastic‘ he commented.

Advantages and limitations

Fertility employment benefits have gone from being a novelty to becoming essential.

Nearly 40% of large US companies with more than 500 employees offer them, and their numbers are growing fast.

Even in Europe, the same is beginning to be done through national health services.

“Governments tend to support most treatments. But when it comes to fertility, that’s not the case everywhere,” explains Jenny Saft, who lives in Berlin and co-founded a company in Europe that offers access to reproductive treatments as employee benefits.

“Europe is not a single country. There are many limitations and restrictions and the system is not fair. For example, insurance covers 50% of in vitro fertilization programs in Germany, but only if you are married and in a heterosexual relationship and are under the age of 40”.

Access to NHS fertility treatment in the UK is dependent on the GP’s postcode and different regions offer different levels of access to IVF. Some do not offer any services.

In France, until very recently, single women or lesbians were not allowed to undergo IVF or freeze their eggs. Now they can do it with government funding.

“Who said I had to be married to start a family?Who said I had to be married to a man to start a family?‘ Saft wondered.

“As a company, you have a way of saying that you disagree with what’s going on. You can offer your female employees the same opportunities and access to start a family. It doesn’t matter when, how or with whom. You can support them in this process,” he said.

“Conflict of Interest”

While the laws of many countries are changing and more and more companies around the world are offering to pay their employees to freeze eggs, some think this is not good news.

“When companies offer these benefits, they often hold meetings where fertility information is given. But if that training comes from a company that will benefit from the people using these technologies, it’s very difficult to avoid conflicts of interest,” said Lucy van de Wiel, professor of global health and social medicine at King’s College London.

«Staff could become a huge potential patient pool because basically anyone who wants to have children in the future can be a candidate for egg freezing,” she added.

The expert also highlighted some aspects of the work culture that may harm women who access these benefits.

“Many of the women who have been offered these plans are very happy to have this option, but they also feel that their company is telling them: ‘You must have children at the right time‘” said van de Wiel.

seize opportunities

Across the Atlantic, in New York, attorney Nyasha Foy has decided to accept her employer’s offer, which pays for two rounds of egg freezing and storage.

Despite being aware of the potential conflict of interest in such situations, women They should seize the opportunity.

“I get the idea that if they give me $10,000 for egg freezing as a return on investment, I have to keep working with the company for two more years. It’s a win-win deal for both of us, Foy told the BBC.

Egg ice cream parties

Statistics from the UK show that among women under 36, the proportion of frozen eggs that develop into a baby is just over 8%, and after 36 the figure drops to around 3%.

But whatever the numbers, egg freezing is gaining momentum in the developed world, and fertility clinics are struggling to attract clients by any means allowed.

Also known as the egg whisperer, fertility doctor Aimee Eyvazzadeh’s clinic is in California and has been known to host egg freezing parties since 2014 to discuss fertility.

“When I started egg freezing parties, it was to make sure all the women knew about the process. Likewise, every woman knows that she can have her breasts operated on.

When asked about the high cost of the procedure, Eyvazzadeh said, “If a woman can afford the cost of breast augmentation, if fertility is important enough to her, she will find a way to finance the procedure.”

“I see more women now than ever before He started his family life after the age of 45. I have three pregnant patients over 50. My average patient is 39 years old. Imagine yourself 15 years from now,” he explained.

“I encourage young women without fertility problems to consider freezing their eggs when they reach 40,” she said.

In places like France and parts of Japan, the state funds the procedure. Meanwhile, American women have to rely on their employers or their own pockets.

In New York, Foy considers his next steps.

“I definitely want to use this benefit and I’m still looking for the father of that baby. I’m 37 now, but there’s still a world out there.”

“I want to be a mother. I don’t know how or when, but when that time comes, I did my part to have the best option.” concluded.