On our Web site, Journalnow.com, we're running a story about women who are postponing children freezing their eggs in the hopes of diminishing the risks of advanced maternal age. It's a well-researched story that considers some of the bio-ethics involved in the decision to freeze eggs.
I found it interesting that no mention was made of men and their own particular risks. I assume once most of these women are ready to have babies, they will likely be with partners of similar ages. Perhaps we should look to see if a similar trend would work for men.
Here's the opening paragraph:
WASHINGTON - As the number of women delaying motherhood continues to rise, many fertility clinics are starting to offer a new service that allows them to freeze some of their eggs to buy more time on their biological clocks.
then there's the downside:
"Currently available evidence does not validate the assumption that if you freeze your eggs now, your chances of a successful pregnancy will be better than your chances using your own fresh eggs at that point," said Marc Fritz, a University of North Carolina reproductive endocrinologist. He spoke on behalf of ASRM, which recommends limiting egg-freezing to cancer patients and research studies.
Fritz and others experts worry that egg-freezing might lull women into assuming it will make it easy to have children in their 40s. A woman's chances of conceiving are still much better in her 20s and 30s.
I'll try to free up some time next week to see what I can find about options for men. If you have suggestions, feel free to post.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
A trend that would work for men, too?
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1 comment:
I'm going to bogart this comment that was left on Digg in response to my post:
"Dude, men have an infinite number of sperm and keep producing them until the day they die, unless they are already infertile. Women, on the other hand, have a finite number of eggs and generally stop producing them when they are in their late 40's to 50's. This is menopause. Therefore, it makes sense for women to freeze their eggs to use when they stop producing more and no sense for you to bother asking the question you posed."
As has been pointed out by me and others on this blog in past posts, this is just not true. In fact, genetic errors occur in higher frequency in sperm as men get older. Where it is available, freezing sperm should be considered as an option by younger men who may believe they won't be having children until they are older.
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