#ExtendTheLimit UK
COVID-19 Update:
To ensure patients who have stored sperm, eggs or embryos that are reaching the 10-year storage limit are not be penalised by the suspension of fertility treatment, the Government has extended the usual 10 year storage period by two years.
The current limit for egg freezing for non-medical reasons is capped at 10 years. Let me put this into context so that it is really clear how arbitrary this figure has now become. Imagine…. a 23 year old woman decides to store her eggs for social reasons (fertility preservation due to career commitments for example), by age 33 (as per the current legislation) she will technically have to use them or loose them. What if she hasn’t found the right partner by age 33?, what if she is just not ready for a child. What happens then?
….she faces a limited number of distressing and potentially financially-crippling options:
to have her eggs destroyed, and with them perhaps her best or only chance of becoming a biological mother;
to become a parent before she is ready to do so, either with a partner or as a solo mum via sperm donation; or
to try to fund the transfer of her eggs to a fertility clinic overseas and have fertility treatment abroad at a later date
It is understandable that this legislation may have served a purpose when the freezing methods were not quite as affective and up to the standards they are at today. Now however, they serve no purpose and need to evolve with the times. Slow freezing has been replaced by Vitrification the ‘fast freezing method’, which has proven to be extremely safe and effective for freezing eggs. Using this method, technically eggs can be frozen indefinitely, and so hence the fast moving #ExtendTheLimit campaign that is well underway by the Progress Education Trust.
“ Women deserve reproductive choice. PET’s #ExtendTheLimit campaign aims to improve women’s reproductive options. The 10-year storage limit for social egg freezing is a very clear breach of human rights: it limits women’s reproductive choices, harms women’s chances of becoming biological mothers, does not have any scientific basis (eggs remain viable if frozen for longer than 10 years) and is discriminatory against women because of the decline in female fertility with age. It is an outdated piece of legislation that does not reflect improvements in egg freezing techniques and changes in society which push women to have children later in life; that’s why it is time for change now.”
Professional medical bodies are calling for the UK law on the storage limit for frozen eggs to be extended, to provide women with more choice in their reproductive years. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and British Fertility Society (BFS) have responded to the consultation launched by the Department for Health on 11 February 2020 on whether the UK's maximum storage periods for eggs, sperm and embryos should be reviewed.
The RCOG and BFS join Parliamentarians and other groups calling for an extension of the current ten-year limit on the storage of eggs for non-medical purposes. According to the RCOG and BFS, 'the UK legislation is no longer fit for purpose and severely restricts women who make the decision to freeze their eggs and preserve their fertility.'
They stated that the current ten-year limit may encourage women to defer freezing her eggs until later in life, when the quality of the eggs will have deteriorated. The success of egg freezing is also strongly dependent on the age of the woman at the time of freezing, where rates are higher for those aged 35 or below. The statement drew on a RCOG Scientific Impact Paper published on the same day, that concludes that eggs frozen using the vitrification technique can be stored indefinitely without deterioration, unlike the previous slow-freezing method. Prior limitations underpinning the rationale for the original legislation are no longer relevant.
“As a sector, we want to offer all the support we can to our patients. Family planning is changing and many people choose to have children later in life. We wish to ensure that those who want to have a baby have the best possible chance of success.”
In the statement, the RCOG and BFS also stressed the need for women to be given information about these success rates. This is particularly important as elective egg freezing is only available privately, normally with significant financial costs involved.
How you can help
You can get involved in PET's #ExtendTheLimit campaign in the following ways.
Respond online to the UK Government's public consultation, before this consulation closes on Tuesday 5 May 2020.
Use the campaign images below, on social media and elsewhere. Please be sure to use the #ExtendTheLimit hashtag and link to this webpage - www.progress.org.uk/extendthelimit
Register online to attend a free public event entitled 'Freezing Eggs: What Are Your Choices? What Are Your Chances?', taking place in London on the evening of Wednesday 29 April, where the 10-year storage limit will be one of the issues discussed.
Make an online donation to the campaign.
Email PET's Head of Communications, Catherine Hill, at chill@progress.org.uk for other ways to get involved. For example, if the 10-year storage limit affects you personally, then you can volunteer to speak to the media.