Policy briefing30th September 2020

Egg freezing in the UK

An overview of the key policy, social, and ethical issues around egg freezing and social egg freezing.

Reproduction, parenthood & familiesAssisted reproductionPregnancy

Policy briefing (PDF)

Key points

• There is increasing interest in egg freezing in the UK.
• The Government is considering whether storage limits for ‘social’ egg freezing should be changed from a maximum of ten years. There appear to be few arguments against increasing this limit.
• The way ‘social’ egg freezing is presented and marketed is potentially of concern and should be the focus of closer attention.
• ‘Successful’ egg freezing can be measured in a variety of ways that can be difficult for women to navigate. There is a pressing need for available data on likely success rates to be presented clearly, accessibly, and transparently.
• If more UK companies start to offer egg freezing as an employment benefit, women’s experiences of using such schemes should be a focus of research.