Egg freezing and egg banking: Empowerment and alienation in assisted reproduction

Abstract

With the development of rapid freezing of human oocytes, many programs have reported IVF success rates comparable to those achieved with fresh eggs and thawed frozen embryos. Egg freezing is now gaining professional and regulatory acceptance as a safe and effective technique forwomen who wish to avoid discarding excess embryos, who face fertility-threatening medical treatments, orwho want to preserve their eggs for use when they are better situated to have a family. This article focuses on the uses of and justification for egg freezing, the path to professional acceptance, the variability in success rates, and the controversy over freezing eggs for social rather than medical reasons. It also addresses the emergence of egg banking as a separate sector in the infertility industry, the regulatory issues that it poses, and its effect on egg donation. Key here is the legal control of stored eggs by banking women and their options when they wish to dispose of those eggs. Theanalysis is framed around empowerment and alienation. Egg freezing is generally empowering forwomen, but the donation or sale of unused eggs to infertilewomen, egg bankers, and researchers also raises issues of alienation.