Social freezing: Over 3,400 Dutch women have frozen their eggs for later childbearing
Over 3,400 Dutch women have chosen “social freezing,” a non-essential medical procedure to freeze their eggs, in recent years. Women often do this as a sort of guarantee that they’ll have healthy eggs when they’re ready to have children. In total, over 40,000 eggs are frozen in the Netherlands, according to an Omroep WNL survey of the 13 Dutch fertility locations that perform the procedure for a documentary series Welmoed & de Bevroren Eitjes.
Almost all the surveyed clinics reported an increase in the number of women opting for social freezing. Amsterdam UMC and Maastricht UMC reported a doubling compared to previous years. NIJ Clinics reported a 43 percent increase. The Isala hospital in Zwolle told the broadcaster that it helped a handful of women between 2020 and 2022, and since 2023, there have been dozens. Only the Erasmus MC reported no increase, treating 50 to 60 women per year.
The vast majority of women have not yet returned ot the fertility clinic to use their eggs. At TFP Leiderdorp, about 5 percent returned. UMC Utrecht said it had a return rate of 39 percent up until 2020. Other hospitals said they had between one and a few women who returned.
Social freezing is a pricey operation. The procedure costs between 3,500 and 4,500 euros per retrieval, and the patients pay approximately 160 euros per year to store their eggs.
“Sometimes it is suggested online that you buy certainty with such a procedure. But it is not always the case that a frozen egg also leads to a child,” journalist Welmoed Sijtsma said.
In the Netherlands, eggs may be implanted again until a woman is 50 years old. After that, the eggs can be destroyed, donated, or used for scientific research.
