Egg Freezing: Mom, Dad's New Gift to Aging Daughters

More and more parents helping to foot the sizable bill
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2012 10:49 AM CDT
Egg Freezing: Mom, Dad's New Gift to Aging Daughters
A technician opens a vessel containing women's frozen egg cells.   (Getty Images)

Some parents help pay for their kids' college tuition—others help foot the bill for freezing their daughters eggs? Apparently. The New York Times reports on what it paints as a growing trend: Would-be grandparents, worried about their daughter's advancing age and aware of the fact that the procedure can cost as much as $18,000, are getting involved. That means launching the conversation ("By the time Allison was 35, I felt the clock was tick-tick-ticking," says one 61-year-old who suggested the idea) and whipping out the credit card (said mother picked up half the tab when Allison took her up on it).

The Times relays some loose stats behind the anecdotes: The director of Atlanta's Reproductive Biology Associates says of the 100-plus egg-freezing patients his center has seen over the last two years, at least 75% had parents who chipped in. Though surprised at first, he now expects parents to do so, with many patients describing it as a "gift" from Mom and Dad. But the Times notes there's certainly risk involved—even with eggs frozen, these women may not be able to get pregnant in their 40s. But, as one 37-year-old notes, with her parents paying $5,000 of her $7,600 bill, "it somehow didn't feel like as scary an investment." (More reproduction stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X