Egg freezing: “They told me it would be an obstacle course, but it’s much worse”

My name is Costanza, I’m 30 years old and I’m an independent journalist. For several months I have been trying in vain to find an appointment to freeze my eggs.

I’m on a particular journey; Five years ago I was diagnosed with endometriosis and micropolycystic ovaries. Why the 2021 Bioethics Act Opened Up Egg Freezing and Storage to All Cis Women (previously this course was reserved for heterosexual couples, ed. ), I told myself that it would reassure me to save a few eggs so I could continue my career.

There is a large mental load that weighs on women over thirty, linked to the pseudo ticking of the biological clock. It’s true that I think about it a lot. AND, although I know that only 10% of women who freeze their eggs will use them, I also know that it is less of a mental burden when you are a woman in your thirties and want to work.

Great solidarity in the face of an “obstacle course”

So I started looking into it a few months ago. I live in the Paris region and they warned me that it would be an obstacle course, but in reality it is much worse. The first center I contacted was several months ago. They asked me to call back in May for an appointment in 2025. So I did: I called back in May and was told to call back in September for a first appointment at the end of 2025. Knowing that this first meeting we are having we are being offered a first meeting to explain what egg freezing is and how our body works… While, normally, we are almost already aware of it when we start this journey.

The interesting thing is that I put a story on Instagram about this topic which received widespread response. As usual, women’s health is neglected, which is why solidarity networks are being created. I called to ask where other women had managed to get an appointment relatively quickly. I received many responses. Everyone gives advice to each other, there are even lists with different addresses of the CECOS (Centres for the Study and Conservation of Ova and Human Sperm), these units specialized in infertility located in university hospitals, and which take care of oocyte conservation.

I find it fantastic that egg conservation has been open to everyone for several years, but nothing has been planned. The system is not ready, we have the impression that hospitals are overloaded with requests and that run a hierarchy of patients, which is normal. The more serious the condition, the more priority you have, obviously. But there is also the question of age, as it is open to women up to 37 years old. There, young women who are 36 will never have time to have a first date before the age of 37. So nothing is going well in this scam which however started from a great idea.

Once again, as in any medical path related to women, patients feel completely abandoned and waste a lot of time searching for suitable treatment centers.

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