What You Need to Know About Egg Freezing

In this video, Page Provan Director and Award-Winning Fertility Lawyer, Stephen Page discusses what you need to know about egg freezing and the latest updates about the matter.

Transcript

G’day, I’m Stephen Page from Page Proven, Family and Fertility Lawyers, and I’ve been doing fertility work since 1988. I want to talk today about egg freezing. Many women, when they’re looking at advancing years and they’re in a career and don’t have a partner, have contemplated freezing eggs.

Now, the first thing that’s got to be said about that is the science has come a long way, and I speak as a lawyer, not a doctor or a scientist, but the science has come a long way. The chances of being able to retrieve those eggs later on has certainly grown exponentially. Having said that, it’s not a sure thing.

You might freeze today and they may not be available tomorrow or in 10 years’ time. But for most women, according to doctors, their fertility rate goes down over time, and a rough and ready measure of that is the AMH level, Anti-Mullerian Hormone and it’s not guaranteed. But typically, women who have a high AMH level are considered fertile and women who don’t are not. But as I said, it’s not guaranteed and you should be consulting with your doctor.

But assuming that you want to freeze today because you have a career and don’t have a partner and you’re looking at maybe using down the track, not knowing where down the track is, be aware of this, that something has certainly happened in the last year.

In the last year, according to recent media reports, there has been a phenomenal increase in egg freezing rates in Queensland, in various clinics in Queensland, where it’s increased twenty-five percent to thirty-three percent.

In other words, a quarter to a third more women freezing as a result of the pandemic. Obviously, these women realised that there might be difficulty obtaining a partner or there might be problems with uncertainty, or in fact, it might have been they’ve gone through the lockdown and considered, what are my priorities in life? And one of those is to have a child. So if you are thinking about egg freezing, there are very good quality IVF clinics in Australia.

Go and talk to your local clinic, and see what the options are, see what the costs are because they vary, and see what the risks are because as I said, it’s not guaranteed. But it’s certainly an option for women that a few years ago was not available. Thank you.