Egg freezing clinics give 'misleading' information

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68505321

'The Fertility Network was reacting to BBC analysis that found 41% of clinics offering the service privately could be breaching advertising guidance.
The watchdog which sets guidance says clinics "must not give false or misleading information".
It comes as a record number of people are freezing their eggs.
The UK fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), also said it was concerned about the information given to those considering egg freezing.'
...
'Few patients in the UK have come back to use their frozen eggs, but for those who do, the success rates are slightly lower than IVF using fresh eggs - which is about 20-30% per round depending on age. It could be as low as 5% for people in their 40s, according to HFEA.'
...
'Egg freezing for non-medical reasons, also known as social egg freezing, is an increasingly popular method for women to preserve their fertility in order to have children at a later date.
The procedure is not normally available on the NHS unless you are having medical treatment which could affect your fertility, such as chemotherapy or gender-reassignment.'

hear hear!

I think women should be made aware that these clinics are businesses and don't necessarily always have your best interests at heart. I had IVF and was pushed to implant 3 foetuses which I didn't want as I wanted to avoid a multiple birth as I was worried for medical and financial reasons. I wanted one and we "compromised" on 2. I had twins. Obviously I am very grateful it worked but I felt coerced at a very vulnerable time. (Not just over this but for a number of reasons).

Are you outside the UK? It’s HFEA policy that there shouldn’t be more than one embryo per transfer to avoid multiple births.

www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-blog/reducing-multiple-births-giving-patients-the-best-chance-of-a-healthy-baby/#:~:text=The%20first%20HFEA%20Code%20of,three%20only%20in%20exceptional%20circumstances.

Are you outside the UK?
Yes. I didn't know that. It's a good idea. I felt that I was being pushed to keep the clinic's success rate up.

When I had ivf I initially asked about egg freezing and was dissuaded from doing it as the consultant said the success rates are so low (ie getting to a live birth), that she didn't want to give me the false reassurance.
Eggs don't freeze as well as embryos or sperm, so far less likely to survive.
Also the freezing technology evolves all the time, so if you go back a decade later to use your eggs, clinics may decline to do so as they know the chances of eggs surviving the defrost and being of sufficient quality to be fertilised are low - particularly if you're using sperm from a bank or otherwise limited source.
Plus egg freezing doesn't check for quality, so if there is an issue with fertilising (eg very thick 'shells') or other egg quality problem, it won't be known and so the woman freezing her eggs has false hope.
Also eggs are vulnerable to mechanical failures such as defrosting or poor storage (rare, but happens at clinics).

As an earlier poster pointed out, really it's a money making game for clinics, rather than anything anyone should think is a real chance of having a family.

This is a beautiful illustration of the difference between logical - which this post is - and reasonable - which this post isn't. Reasonable would take into account the physical and emotional cost to women of freezing eggs at all. Many men are capable of having reasonable expectations. Women might want to avoid the ones who aren't.

Lord Winston spoke about egg freezing in June last year:

"Let me tell the story of Marie—a completely true story which I heard recently, perhaps a month or two ago. She had visited a famous, large IVF clinic as a private patient to get an MOT to test for fertility. She was offered an AMH, which is a blood test, and a scan. According to the people who manufacture the AMH test, it does not in fact predict your fertility. None the less, this was sold to her, together with the scan. When her results were handed to her after the tests were done, the female doctor said: “You see these results? These are shit. You have no chance of getting pregnant”. This was said to a woman of roughly 40, acutely concerned about her fertility for lots of reasons, as many women are, who suddenly found this violent language in front of her. It is not uncommon; it
happens a lot. I have heard so many stories like this one. As a result of my website, trying to sort out the issue of egg freezing, I get letters of this sort once a week and sometimes daily. Marie was then told that, if she paid £20,000 straight away, she could book three cycles of IVF to have her eggs frozen, and that the chances of her getting pregnant would be very high indeed—probably greater than 50%.

It so happens that, as a kind of hobby, I regularly submit a Written Question—about every three years—to find out the results of egg freezing in the United Kingdom compared to those internationally. According to the latest results from the five years up to the pandemic, 75,958 eggs were subjected to thawing after freezing. Of these—I will round up the figures for speed—13,000 thawed, 11,400 were fertilised, 7,257 produced an embryo, 1,695 were considered suitable for an embryo transfer, 288 of the women got pregnant after transfer, 205 gave birth, and 80 pregnancies were lost as a result of miscarriage. In spite of the HFEA saying on its website that the effects are improving, when you look at these figures in detail you see that they are not.

Only last week, on BBC radio, a well-known individual who was a senior member of the HFEA said that the success rate of egg freezing is 18%. It is nothing like that. In fact, according to the figures I have just given the House, less than 0.2% of eggs that are subjected to thawing result in a live birth, and only 1.7% of eggs that are fertilised become a baby. Women do not want miscarriages, and if there is any violence that you can talk about, having a miscarriage is certainly one of them. It is really quite shocking that this goes on and that this kind of information is bandied around in this way. It is not acceptable, and it needs to be done much more carefully by the Government, because the Government are responsible for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. It needs to make certain that the website says what the success rate is. It does not say what the success rate is; it just says it is improving.

Moreover, the website says that egg freezing is completely safe. How can we say that? It has been going for only 20 years, and it will be a long time before these children can be followed up as adults. It probably is safe but we do not know that. The high miscarriage rate is one certain concern that I have. Clinics are telling patients—I hear this again and again—that if you come to the clinic you have a 60% chance of having your eggs frozen, with a successful baby afterwards. This is a scandal, and it needs to be halted and taken under control."

hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2023-06-29/debates/7487DBB6-577B-4BDD-8ACF-1D5ED362B7DA/UKViolenceAgainstWomenAndGirls?highlight=egg%20freezing#contribution-A8BA5FE6-0F33-418D-B47B-9A38EA66A81B

Yeah, fuck that

What happens if the IVF business goes bankrupt in a few years time? They throw the eggs? Do they give a refund? Not to mention cancer care if that's what the hormones does to the women

Men are all for abortions, egg freezing etc. But don't want to hear it if women say no to sex or having babies or talk about childcare.

When people say "it takes the pressure off" - off what? Off the time limit to have a baby? And yet it puts the pressure on to take cancer-inducting hormone injections and to have a career while taking care of kids. So, basically women can't say no to anything and have to do every. fucking. thing.

Bloody hell. That's appalling.

less than 0.2% of eggs that are subjected to thawing result in a live birth, and only 1.7% of eggs that are fertilised become a baby.

That should be very very clear.

Sounds like a recipe for a shitty relationship all around and you should not be bringing children into such a toxic stew. There is more to raising children than just the bioligical aspect. Children also need good parents, who are emotionally mature and who love and respect each other.

Once children enter the picture it's no longer a game (if it ever was) and children pay the price for their parents' bs.

Do you mind me asking which clinic you used? I’m trying to find information but it’s difficult…

Do you have any recommendations for clinics going on your own and others experiences? Thanks

I didn’t realise it increased risk of cancer… Do you know how likely it is?

There's been mixed information in the research. This review reports largely no increased risk for the standard cancers:

Overall most studies show that fertility treatments do not increase the risks of invasive ovarian cancer, malignant melanoma or cancers of the endometrium, cervix, breast, thyroid or colon.

Kroener L, Dumesic D, Al-Safi Z. Use of fertility medications and cancer risk: a review and update. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2017 Aug;29(4):195-201. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000000370. PMID: 28538003; PMCID: PMC5551049.

On the basis of available data, there does not appear to be an association between fertility drugs and breast, colon, or cervical cancer. There is no conclusive evidence that fertility drugs increase the risk of uterine cancer, although women with infertility are at higher risk of uterine cancer. There are insufficient data to comment on the risk of melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with fertility drug use. Women should be informed that there may be an increased risk of invasive and borderline ovarian cancers and thyroid cancer associated with fertility treatment. It is difficult to determine whether this risk is related to underlying endometriosis, female infertility, or nulliparity.

Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Fertility drugs and cancer: a guideline. Fertil Steril. 2024 Sep;122(3):406-420. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2024.03.026. Epub 2024 May 3. PMID: 38703170.

www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(24)00201-2/fulltext

Thank you @InThePottingShed for the Hansard quote. It’s an excellent example of how MNers can be relied upon to bring and share evidence to support these discussions. Along with PPs, I’m shocked at the low success rate. It is not remotely reflected in the rosy way that egg-freezing is sold as a back-up plan.

Edited to thank @RethinkingLife for the cancer article too.

Well said Lord Winston. There's a man who really does know what he's talking about.