Trend from the USA: The first companies in Switzerland are paying for egg freezing

2023-11-24 08:05:54

The first companies in Switzerland are paying for egg freezing

In Switzerland, the first companies are covering the costs of freezing eggs. This should allow women to plan their families more flexibly. From an ethical point of view, this is not unproblematic.

Published today at 9:05 a.m

The social egg freezing trend from the USA is also on the rise in Switzerland.

Photo: Michael Buholzer (Keystone)

The first companies in Switzerland are covering the costs of freezing eggs. This is intended to give women the opportunity to plan their family more flexibly. From an ethical point of view, this is not unproblematic.

“We at the National Ethics Commission view this rather skeptically,” said Markus Zimmermann, Vice President of the National Ethics Commission (NEK) in the field of human medicine, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Since October, the pharmaceutical company Merck has been one of the first Swiss companies to cover the costs if employees want to have their eggs frozen as a precautionary measure. “Supporting our employees is very important to us,” said Florian Schick, Director of Merck Switzerland, to Keystone-SDA. Freezing eggs is part of the solution for a better work-life balance. Ultimately, this can create a more inclusive and diverse working environment.

In Switzerland, it has so far been rare for companies to undertake the freezing and storage of eggs, which costs around 10,000 francs, several experts told Keystone-SDA. “But I can imagine that the trend from the USA will also spill over into Switzerland,” said Julia Schmid, who researches the topic at the University of Zurich, when asked.

Mixing of private and work life

The ethicist Zimmermann fears that this will create constraints. A company is implicitly sending the message that women should prioritize their careers and postpone motherhood. “This creates an expectation,” he explained.

In addition, according to Zimmermann, it can distract from making further efforts to balance family and work. However, Schick expressly emphasized that this was not the case at Merck.

In addition, according to Zimmermann, there is an excessive mixing of private and work life. “The question of reproduction and the desire to have children is about something very personal. “That shouldn’t be confused with the question of what incentives the employer offers,” said Zimmermann.

This also creates the illusion that freezing eggs is a guarantee for a future pregnancy. But that is not the case, warned Zimmermann. According to reproductive medicine specialist Peter Fehr from the OVA IVF Clinic Zurich, after freezing 15 to 20 eggs, there is an 80 percent chance that at least one child can be born from them.

More and more frozen eggs

The freezing of eggs without a medical reason, the so-called social egg freezing, is on the rise in Switzerland. Around 30 percent more patients use this service every year, said Fehr.

Researchers at the University of Zurich are also observing an increase in social egg freezing. In the “EEggg” research project, Julia Schmid and her research team are investigating the psychological aspects of this phenomenon.

The project is not yet completed; the researchers’ online survey can be completed until the end of November. However, the around 1,000 answers so far show that the attitude towards social egg freezing among those surveyed is predominantly positive, said Schmid. Many women could also imagine using such a procedure. “It was completely different in previous studies,” says the psychologist. “The analysis of the data will show the reason for this.”

Freezing for fear of infertility

The main reason for egg freezing is not career. “Research clearly shows that the main reason for the decision to freeze eggs is a lack of a partner,” explained Schmid. Career could still play a small role. “Women who have their eggs frozen often work a high workload of at least 80 percent,” explained Schmid.

In addition, many women would put their desire to have children on hold in order to wait for a more stable life situation. The fear of infertility also plays a role in the decision to freeze eggs. Egg cells would be partially frozen to calm this fear. The proportion of women who actually use their frozen eggs is also low.

In addition to female eggs, male sperm cells can also be frozen. “For women, fertility is more closely linked to age than for men,” explained Schmid. This could be the reason why this issue is approached differently for men than for women.