Covid ushers in a boom in egg freezing, abortion and Mr Wrongs

Ann Farmer
October 13, 2020
Reproduced with Permission
sex and society

The coronavirus has reportedly driven a surge of interest in egg freezing , with the difficulty of dating during the pandemic prompting women to "consider their options". Some clinics have seen inquiries jumping by 50 percent over the summer. The owner of the London Women's Clinic, Dr Kamal Ahuja, explained: "Uncertainty creates anxiety - and also, thinking: 'If I have time now, who knows what'll happen next year, so I might as well do it now .'"

The ill wind of Covid has certainly blown more cash in the direction of the already booming reproductive technology industry which thrives on uncertainty and anxiety, despite the risks involved to women and the uncertain success rate . 

Despite such factors there have been calls for the 10-year limit on storing frozen eggs to be extended , although the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which supported a relaxation of the 10-year rule ,  warned that clear information and research was needed around egg freezing "as an employment benefit" - something offered by some companies in the UK.

While social egg freezing (SEF) as an employment benefit might be seen as a workplace "gender equaliser" with positive effects on women's salaries, such "benefits" might also push women to delay motherhood to show commitment to their career in a manner not required of male employees . 

The greatest risk attached to egg freezing is in encouraging women to put off having a family until it is biologically too late. According to Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London, Professor Joyce Harper:

The majority of women who freeze their eggs, on all the studies done so far, are single. When they've been asked, most of them want to have children now, they just haven't met Mr Right or haven't got a partner who is happy to have children.

But thanks to the pandemic, the chances of meeting the right person have "gone out of the window".

According to Professor Geeta Nargund, a consultant fertility specialist, medical director of CREATE Fertility and lead consultant for reproductive medicine at St George's Hospital National Health Service (NHS) Trust in London, removing obstacles to egg freezing is a feminist issue.

Unfortunately for this woman-friendly narrative, the women's lib of the 1970s was a reaction to the male sexism of the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, but the feminist demand for the right to be available to every man without any strings attached liberated libertarian men, not women. For those who embraced it, the chances of embracing Mr Right really did go out of the window, along with the wedding ring and the life-long commitment.

The Sexual Revolution, instead of liberating women, broke the solidarity of women: up until then it would have been regarded as a sign not of liberation but of treachery to steal another woman's partner.

"Dating" was not a euphemism for "having sex" and possibly procreating. Abortion was seen as a tragedy rather than something to shout about. Single motherhood was seen not as an aspiration but as something to be pitied and avoided at all costs.  

Sadly, young students of women's studies are now given the impression that historically, the vast majority of women were downtrodden drudges, held hostage in the kitchen by the institutionalized misogyny of marriage and the tyranny of the womb - in which case academe has yet to explain the mysterious growth and popularity of shops.

And if the modern feminist could be transported back in time to instruct said females on their downtrodden status and came face to face with one of the redoubtable army of housewives then in existence, the ability to run very fast while covering the ears would be a definite asset.

Given the consequent fall in the birth rate and the rise of the reproductive technology industry, which eugenically screens the embryos they create, as well as libertarian men, the other major beneficiary of the Sexual Revolution has been the eugenics population control movement.

The wholesale wrecking of trust between men and women was a massive boost for the infertility industry, which actually creates infertility by holding out the (often false) hope of having children "later" - but very often too late.

Many young women, encouraged to prioritize their education and their career, are what used to be described as "left on the shelf". Encouraged in school sex education lessons to have sex "without strings", they wonder why all the men they sleep with seem to have no desire for a lasting, committed relationship.

However, the rise in interest in egg freezing has inadvertently demonstrated that women still want children, despite the propaganda of the abortion campaign. They demanded that abortion pills be sent through the post owing to the pandemic, totally disregarding the danger that the women being "seen" over the phone might not have a partner who is "happy to have children" but someone who is pushing them to have an abortion. Perhaps this explains why the number of abortions rocketed during lockdown . 

Now shacked up with Mr Wrong - with no life-partner, and with no children and thus no prospect of grandchildren - in future, more and more women will have only the memories of their home abortions and their frozen eggs to comfort them - cold comfort indeed.

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