Did you see the New York Times article this week about what may be a new trend of parents paying for egg-freezing for their daughters? The piece quoted a fertility doctor in Colorado, Dr. William Schoolcraft of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, who said that lately he's seeing more young women arrive at the clinic with their parents, who "lend support -- emotional and often financial -- as their daughters turn to the fledgling field of egg freezing to improve their chances of having children later on, when they are ready to start a family."
Once a highly experimental treatment, egg freezing has come a long way in recent years. A CNN.com story last year put the cost of freezing eggs at between $6500 and $15,000; in a story ConceiveOnline.com ran last June, one doctor said it could be as much as $40,000.
Whether this is a bona fide trend or not is unclear, but it may point to a growing awareness about fertility on the part of more young women who realize conceiving in your late 30s or 40s is often an uphill battle, in spite of the many medical advances that have been made. And with so many young people saddled by long-term student debt and many more vulnerable to the economic downturn, it's not surprising to hear that financial support from parents who hope to be grandparents someday is particularly useful, or even necessary, for a woman to consider freezing her eggs.
What do you think about the trend of more parents paying for their daughters in their 20s and 30s to freeze their eggs? Do you wish your mom and dad had done so?
If you're considering freezing embryos, read this piece on the pros and cons of the procedure by fertility expert and best-selling author Dr. Robert Greene.
