Egg Freezing Parties Tackling Fertility Problems on the Rise in New York

Few career-oriented professional women in New York gathered at a first-of-its-kind "egg freezing" party last week. The get-together was sponsored by a company called EggBanxx. The purpose was to discuss about a scientific method to freeze their eggs to use it later when they decide to reproduce.

Fashionable and professional women in New York met over champagne, drinks and food on Tuesday to understand how they can keep off motherhood for a while without worrying about their biological clock ticking. Named Let's Chill, the party sponsored by EggBanxx, claims to freeze eggs at a much lower rate than others in the trade. The process of freezing eggs through EggBanxx will cost the women between $6,500 and $7,500. This, the company says, is much cheaper in comparison to the fixed market price, which is between $13,000 and $15,000.

The younger the eggs, the easier it is for the woman to conceive, and with more and more career-conscious women who are in the mid-30s or have entered late 30s, the risk of not being able to reproduce is higher. Speaking about the benefit of egg freezing, Mark Bowman, the medical director of Genea, Australia's leading fertility group, and associate professor, said, "You need to weigh up the actual chance of having a baby through freezing. Compare it with what you think your background chance is of getting pregnant over the next few years."

Freezing eggs has limitations as well. The success rate of reproduction using a woman's frozen eggs is much higher if they are younger. At the same time, the chances of the ladies meeting the right person too are much more when they are younger. "The issue is because there's a cost involved, you spend a lot of money and you won't know if the eggs will work until you use them. The majority of women will never use them," said Bowman.

Since egg freezing parties have taken place in USA, it won't be too long when such events will be common in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.