„Social egg freezing“

The cryopreservation of unfertilized eggs without any medical indication is called social egg freezing. This preserves the egg quality at the moment of conservation and does not change any further with time. By creating an egg depot, motherhood can be decoupled from age. This leads to reproductive autonomy for women. This has sparked a social debate. For women, there are social, economic and psychological reasons for social freezing. The advantages and disadvantages are presented in this publication. Although the demand for the cryopreservation of egg cells is increasing, the retrieval rate remains low. This means that the cost–benefit ratio is currently poor. Nevertheless, social egg freezing is justified. It gives users time to prepare their personal lives for parenthood. In order to make reproductive medicine superfluous for women without medical indication, society would have to change. Motherhood must no longer be associated with professional and social disadvantages.