Oocyte Cryopreservation
A recent New York Times article titled "For Women Worried About Fertility, Egg Bank is a New Option" written by Sally Wadyka, focuses on the new improved technology of Oocyte cryopreservation, or the freezing of eggs. It has become a recent trend for women to wait till later in their lives to start a family. Until recently, there was no procedure available for women to store their eggs to be used at a later date. Because of this trend and the new advances in the field of egg freezing, in this essay I will attempt to provide background information on the technology, advances made to this point, and arguments for and against this practice.
According to a similar article in Forbes by Erica Brown, "there are 5 million single, childless women in their 30s in the U.S., three times as many as in their mothers' generation"(Brown). This is caused in most part by the increasing number of women in the work force. More and more women are opting for higher education and more intense careers, and choose to hold off on having a family. About twenty percent of women wait until after the age of thirty five to have children (Wadyka).
Women have always had a disadvantage when it comes to feeling pressured to have children at a young age. Men can have children much later in their lives, and the technology to freeze sperm has been available for many years. On the other hand, a female is born with six million eggs, and cannot produce any more. At puberty she has lost all but five hundred thousand, and each menstrual cycle uses approximately 30 eggs (Brown).
Fertility can begin to decrease as young as age twenty seven, and by the age of forty only two of five women will be able to bear a child (Brown). The reason fertility decreases with age is that older eggs are more likely to have "chromosomal abnormalities" resulting in a higher rate of miscarriages (Wadyka).
Major advances in the field were accomplished by Dr. Raffaella Fabbri at the University of Bologna in Italy. Dr. Fabbri discovered that unlike sperm and embryos, eggs are much harder to freeze because of the fact they are made up in large by water.
often had 6-7 children by their 40s (expected to give birth and raise many children at this times)
there is also an increase in friends placed in the voluntary kin category. The article states that people who are single or live alone think of themselves as a family. Yet studies shown that these single families tend to keep more in touch with the relatives. A statement that Dr. Coontz makes is that We’re seeing a class divide not only between the haves and the have-nots, but between the I do’s and the I do nots,”. The article also states that the way demographer noticed differences in today’s family from previous one was through the birth rates, today’s rate is about half of what it used to be in 1960. After the era of the baby boom in 1964, the rate was 36 percent, and last year the number dropped to 23.5 percent predicting a 21 percent of child births by 2050. This because less women are become mothers – yet those who are only have one or two children compared the 3 children per family in the 1970s. Another reason the articles bring up about child care is the expenses, a child can easily cost a family as little as 241,080 to about a million dollars. However, the article agrees with chapter when it states that women with a bachelor or higher wait longer to get married and have children (about 90 percent)
... rest of their life from the onset of puberty. There are also many complications a woman may face for both conceiving and giving birth to children in their fifties and even forties. The mother and the baby can both be harmed in the long run. Although there are women who may have lost their chances at having children in their younger ages, there are many children who are waiting to be adopted. There is no need for medical science to develop this possibility, as women are not in a society where conceiving children is the highest priority.
“We keep putting marriage off. In 1960, the median age of first marriage in the U.S. was 23 for men and 20 for women; today it is 28 and 26. Today, a smaller proportion of American women in their early 30s are married than at any other point since the 1950s if not earlier”. People are also marrying less which is going to change the amount of men left in the dating/marriage pool when women are finally ready to start considering marriage. Even more than that men and marriage aren’t necessarily needed for to have kids anymore. As said in the article more than 40% of children are born to single mothers. Of course not all women who fall into that category chose it like to. The idea of a “nuclear family” is slowly becoming obsolete. “That gays and lesbians (married or single) and older women are also having children, via adoption or in vitro fertilization—has helped shrink the stigma against single
English, V. (2006). Autonomy versus protection--who benefits from the regulation of IVF? Human Reproduction, 21(12), 3044-9. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/12/3044.full.pdf+html/.
family and considering embryo reproduction. New medical and science technology in the embryo industry across the nation provide opportunities for childless couples to utilize technology advancements to assist with reproduction but with religion, moral and legal considerations when selecting this extra-ordinary process in today's society. All four sources function with detailed information regarding embryo reproduction and the impact and process effecting many couples with fertility issues. These sources provide valuable information for couples and prospective donors covering various topics critical to decision making during the embryo reproduction process.
With the increased rate of integrating In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), there has been a steep inclination within the associated needs of specifications. Observably, the development of babies using scientific measures was initially formulated and specified for developing the diverse range of development associated with the same (Turriziani, 2014). However, these developments are noted to be creating an adverse impact on the natural course of events and subsequently, resulting with an adverse impact on the natural process of the development of babies. The initial integrations within the system of IVF for developing babies have further been initiated with the effective use of science to develop a healthy baby. Hence, the use of such progressions can be argued as not hampering the ethical needs associated with the same. Conversely, the initial progression within the same and the changes in the use of such practices are identified as unethical, as it has been acting as a threat in the natural course of development of embryos and altering the natural course of events, suspected to be imposing significant influence on infant mortality (Turriziani,
IVF accounts for 99% of reproductive procedures, in 2009 out of those pregnancy was achieved and average of 29.4% of all cycles with 22.4% of cycles that resulted in love births. A woman's age is a major factor in the success of IVF, a woman who is under age 35 has a 39.6% chance of having a baby, while a woman over age 40 has an 11.5% chance.” (Todd) For a woman to have her best chances of conception with IVF, she needs to act quickly to ensure that her eggs are young. The younger or fresher the woman’s eggs are the more viable they are for successful
Currently informed consent from many of the ivf clinics include following points: 1)Requirement of screening tests to determine the eligibility of donor as candidate for egg donation. 2)Understanding the medical procedure. 3)Understanding the risks involved with the procedure with respect to- a) drug used for ovarian stimulation, b)ovarian hyperstimulation effects c) Discussion of Number of eggs to be extracted prior to procedure d) Process of egg extraction e)long term effects of pr...
... miscarriage as conceiving naturally but woman who receive frozen eggs during IVF treatment have a higher chance of miscarriage than conceiving naturally.
Many scientist and specifically sociologists are concerned with the population on planet Earth. Many couples today are choosing not to have children. This choice does not just effect the couples personally, however it effects the whole country's demographic. The increase in childlessness among couples generates economic and social problems. Many countries are facing this problem. Hara in a journal article mentions that Japan and Germany are a couple of the countries that are going through childlessness (Hara, 2008).Today, more than 80 countries depend on immigration to prevent the populations from declining, due to the death rate being higher than birth rate. (Becker-Posner, 2013) How will declining birth rates affect demographics in many countries around the world? How will it affect the Global economy? How will it affect societies in different countries; will it raise social and racial tensions? Will it affect relations
The addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
Fertilization is a very important aspect in a human life. Without fertilization, human cannot reproduce and no offspring will be produced. This means that the human race will be completely wiped out in more or less a century. So when there is a problem in the human fertility, it is very important to have a solution to overcome this problem.
The article that I researched regarding this area explores the reasons why women may be taking the steps to start a family without marriage, whether these pregnancies are planned or unplanned. The study was conducted using a couple of different methods including the National Survey of Family Growth and a Discrete-Time Hazard Model. “The National Survey of Family Growth is a periodic, nationally representative fertility survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Teitelbaum, Michael S., Jay Winter. “Low Fertility Rates - Just a Phase?” YaleGlobal Online. Yale Global, 9 Jul. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.