The Economics of Freezing Your Eggs
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing. I'm J.R. Whelan at The Wall Street Journal in New York. As women marry and plan to have children later in life, many turn to freezing their eggs to preserve their chances of getting pregnant.
Why are more women considering egg freezing as they delay childbearing?
Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Carpenter has been weighing the idea of freezing her eggs and the decisions involved.
the reason my friends and I have been talking about this so much is because we realize that the costs for some of these procedures are so high and it requires us to start saving now to make them financially feasible for the future.
Coming up, she'll explain some of the services and benefits that companies provide and how the costs are different for each person.
As more women consider freezing their eggs in the hopes of getting pregnant later in life, timing and cost are important factors in the decision. And today's generation of women have a lot of information and financial resources available as they plan their future. Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Carpenter joins us to discuss. So, Julia, you wrote a very personal essay in The Wall Street Journal about this. This is a recurring topic of conversation among you and your friends. But you're 28, and some people might think it's too early to have this conversation.
28 is not the age at which I saw myself getting pregnant, and I don't even see myself getting pregnant in the next few years. But I think the reason my friends and I have been talking about this so much is because we realize that the costs for some of these procedures are so high, and it requires us to start saving now to make them financially feasible for the future.
So what are the costs involved?
So egg freezing itself is a one-time cost that could run a couple thousand dollars or a couple hundred dollars depending on the insurance and the benefit that you're provided. But the storage for these eggs is then an additional cost on top of that.
So it is not a one-time cost.
Definitely not.
How much does egg freezing actually cost and what ongoing fees should you expect?
I think that thinking about the timeline becomes even more important because deciding when you're going to freeze your eggs requires you to think about when you'll have the money to do that first procedure. But then deciding for how many years you'll keep your eggs frozen and what those storage costs will be is another process altogether.
You know, in the past, I think people might have associated this with women who are very late in life or high-powered women who could afford this. Why do you think that this landscape has changed?
Well, I think the first thing is that there's so many more companies in this space. I spoke with one woman for the piece who said that she remembers when egg freezing and fertility was a mere cottage industry. Those are her words. And she says now it's a total boom. So people my age are constantly getting ads for this on Instagram, which happens to me a lot, actually, or we're seeing sales or we're talking with our friends who are doing this. And it seems that especially as people are thinking about the timeline and the time that they want to start a family as it collides with with the time that they want to kind of kick their career into high gear, it becomes all the more pressing and all the more important to discuss.
And in addition to cost and figuring out when you want to have children, there's also the need to weigh the viability of your eggs.
Totally. And I think the first thing that I learned in reporting this piece that shocked me was how few women actually unfreeze their eggs. I think one of the stats I quote in the piece estimates that only 10 percent of women who freeze their eggs actually end up using those frozen eggs. Most women start their families in other ways or they decide that they don't want kids or life doesn't go as planned.
What factors influence the timing of when to freeze your eggs?
But only 10% of women are actually returning to unfreeze those eggs and start their families that way. So it's a huge sunk cost for a relatively little payoff.
And the cost of this is another monumental cost in a woman's life. Women in their 20s and their 30s, I would imagine, are still paying off student loans and they have other obligations as well.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:17
2
Why are more women considering egg freezing as they delay childbearing?
0:17–2:01
3
How much does egg freezing actually cost and what ongoing fees should you expect?
2:01–3:33
4
What factors influence the timing of when to freeze your eggs?
3:33–5:37
5
Do employers or insurance plans cover egg freezing and which companies offer benefits?
5:37–7:22
6
At what age does egg freezing show the highest likelihood of success according to studies?
7:22–7:54
7
How do fertility decisions and costs differ for LGBTQ women compared with heterosexual women?
7:54–8:15
8
What are the essential questions women should ask before deciding to freeze their eggs?
8:15–8:26
Speakers
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