Max. 5 years storage of human eggs
The Danish government has announced on Monday that it will remove the current five-year limit on how long healthy women can store eggs in the freezer for potential future use at fertility treatments.
Social freezing – the facts on the changes:
The eggs can be stored safely for decades once frozen. The eggs will be able to be used for fertility treatment in Denmark, until the woman turns 46, when it is no longer legal to receive treatment in Denmark.
But who is likely to make use of that opportunity? And why is it attractive for healthy young women to pay many thousands of Danish kroner for egg retrieval and storage?
Charlotte Kroløkke, who is professor of cultural studies at the University of Southern Denmark, can draw a characterization through her and others’ research. First of all, she does not expect egg freezing parties and women with eggs in the bank to become as big a phenomenon in Denmark as in the USA. Because it is actually easier for Danish women to pursue a career while having children.
- The welfare state makes it easier to have children earlier in Denmark than in the USA, says Charlotte Kroløkke.
The dream of a traditional family
If you have to summarize Kroløkke’s considerations, you can generally describe the American women who use social freezing as highly educated, resourceful women in their mid-30s who have not yet found the man they want to have children with.
They are at a point in life where their fertility is drastically declining. Therefore, they try to optimize their own chances of having children later in life, when they have hopefully met a partner, says Charlotte Kroløkke.