Aggregated News
Thinking about freezing your eggs to buy yourself a few more baby-making years? Not so fast, says the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The doctor’s organization issued a statement Monday warning healthy women not to use egg freezing to pause their biological clocks. “We don’t want to give patients the impression that this technology can guarantee a successful pregnancy,” explains Samantha Butts, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who was on the committee that issued the statement.
“We are not endorsing widespread use of egg freezing for women who want to delay motherhood,” says Butts, explaining that it should only be used for women who are facing cancer or other medical treatments that could destroy their fertility. “We still need to study it more to determine its safety, ethics and cost-effectiveness.”
The warning comes in the middle of egg freezing’s cultural moment. Last fall, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine welcomed the procedure to the mainstream by removing the "experimental" label and acknowledging freezing techniques that resulted in similar in-vitro...
The doctor’s organization issued a statement Monday warning healthy women not to use egg freezing to pause their biological clocks. “We don’t want to give patients the impression that this technology can guarantee a successful pregnancy,” explains Samantha Butts, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who was on the committee that issued the statement.
“We are not endorsing widespread use of egg freezing for women who want to delay motherhood,” says Butts, explaining that it should only be used for women who are facing cancer or other medical treatments that could destroy their fertility. “We still need to study it more to determine its safety, ethics and cost-effectiveness.”
The warning comes in the middle of egg freezing’s cultural moment. Last fall, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine welcomed the procedure to the mainstream by removing the "experimental" label and acknowledging freezing techniques that resulted in similar in-vitro...