On March 23rd, Shady Grove Fertility’s Medical Director, Eric A. Widra, M.D., joined journalist Brigid Schulte and author Rachel Lehmann-Haupt on the Diane Rehm Show to discuss the increasing scores of women who are exercising their economic and procreative power by freezing their eggs until they are ready to have a baby.
- Read some of the highlights of the lively 45 minute discussion, “Why more and more women are choosing to freeze their eggs.”
“Nobody ever falls off a fertility cliff at a certain age. All women have a gradual decline in their fertility, but the real problem for us is that we don’t have a fertility test. We can’t tell whether a woman is fertile or not. What we can tell a woman is what her egg supply—what we call ovarian reserve —looks like.” Shady Grove Fertility Medical Director, Eric A. Widra, M.D.
During the discussion Widra stated that, “There is [no] bright line cutoff, no cliff to fall off, but it is a gradual decline. Nobody ever falls off a fertility cliff at a certain age. All women have a gradual decline in their fertility, but the real problem for us is that we don’t have a ‘fertility test.’ We can’t tell whether a woman is fertile or not. What we can tell a woman is what her egg supply—what we call ovarian reserve—looks like.”
During the broadcast, Dr. Widra reminded the live audience that, generally speaking, the optimal time to freeze eggs is in a woman’s early- to mid-30s while fertility potential is still near its peak. He explained, reproductive specialists really only have a select, few markers for determining who’s a good candidate to freeze their eggs, and those come from a measurement that involves ultrasound and blood testing of egg supply.
More Women are Choosing Egg Freezing at Shady Grove Fertility
Shady Grove Fertility’s Egg Freezing Program allows women between the ages of 30 and 40 the ability to freeze their eggs. Not every egg (frozen or not) will result in a pregnancy, but recommends that women 37 or younger with excellent ovarian function freeze 15 to 20 eggs, and for women over 38, or women with diminished ovarian function, freeze 25 to 30.
Widra further explained how reproductive specialists have taken years of data to create very measurable and scientific guidelines for how many eggs to freeze based on age and ovarian reserve; however, to put it simply, “if you have 20 eggs at a particular age, some of them will be normal, some of them will be abnormal,” explains Widra. He asks women who are considering egg freezing, “What is our long-term goal here and how do we come up with a strategy,” explains Widra.
Egg Freezing as an Insurance Policy
Egg freezing has become a technological solution to a bigger problem, and, “as technology matures, we’re going to start to feel differently, maybe better, maybe worse, about the choices that women are making and what it means from a cultural, societal standpoint,” says Widra.
He says that women don’t come into his office expressing that they want to climb the corporate ladder, “[they’re] saying, well, I haven’t found the right life situation to have kids. And I’m really worried about what that means for my future.”
While egg freezing doesn’t guarantee a baby in the future, it is the best option to extend a woman’s current fertility potential. Women who choose to freeze their eggs should feel confident that they’ve proactively done what they need to in order to have more options for the future.
To discover why more women are choosing egg freezing, or to learn more about Shady Grove Fertility’s exclusive egg freezing financial programs, call 1-877-411-9292 to speak with one of our New Patient Liaisons, fill out this form to schedule an egg freezing appointment, or register for one of our upcoming patient educational events.
