The "traditional" (or, old-fashioned) expectations of women, marriage and bearing children almost seem unheard of these days. It's not that women don't want children; it's just that they don't want them right now. More than ever before, women are career-focused and waiting longer to say both "I do" and "Let's get pregnant."
As women age, an estimated 35 to 39 percent report fertility problems. Your eggs become less viable and the challenges of conceiving also increase.
So, what can you do if you're just not ready to be a mommy but don't want to lose your window of opportunity?
Freezing your eggs might be an option.
There are more than 220 American clinics that are offering egg-freezing services. However, the procedure is still fairly new and no more than 500 babies have been born after the eggs have been thawed out.
But as your own fertility clock ticks away, panic begins to sink in... should you consider freezing your eggs?
Author Sarah Richards, who specializes in writing about health and medicine, discusses the process of egg-freezing, as well as when and why you should decide to freeze your eggs.
Why Women Are Freezing their Eggs
With fewer women having children in their 20s, there's a growing trend for women of all ages to freeze their eggs. Should you?
Additional Info
- Segment Number: 5
- Audio File: staying_well/1339sw1e.mp3
- Featured Speaker: Sarah Richards
- Book Title: Motherhood, Rescheduled: The New Frontier of Egg Freezing and the Women Who Tried It
- Guest Website: Sarah Richards
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Guest Bio:
Sarah Elizabeth Richards is a New York City-based journalist and the author of Motherhood, Rescheduled: The New Frontier of Egg Freezing and the Women Who Tried It, a narrative non-fiction book that chronicles the lives of four women who attempt to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs (Simon & Schuster May 2013).
Sarah specializes in covering health and medicine, psychology and social issues and has written for two dozen newspapers, magazines, and websites – including the New York Times, Financial Times, Elle, Marie Claire, Slate and Salon.
She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley and holds master's degrees from the Graduate School of Journalism and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Sarah recently attended the course "Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research," offered by the National Institutes of Health.
A recipient of numerous awards, she is a three-time winner of the Newswomen's Club of New York's Front Page award, most recently in the science category for a story about a controversial infertility treatment for Elle Magazine. - Length (mins): 10
- Waiver Received: Yes
- Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Published in
Staying Well