Great Eggspectations: Narratives of Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation in Canadian Medical Journals

Abstract

Also called oocyte cryopreservation or oocyte banking, "egg freezing" is an assisted reproductive procedure that allows people with ovaries to preserve oocytes for use in the future. "Medical egg freezing" has become established as a procedure for patients undergoing gonadotoxic chemotherapy or gynaecological surgery. In contrast, "social egg freezing" (SEF) is undertaken by patients with no current fertility issues in anticipation that they will be delaying childbearing. There is a sense that demand for SEF is growing, and it has been a rich case study for sociologists through lenses including medicalization theory, the nuclear family, intensive mothering, neoliberalism, ableism, and eugenics. Research presented in medical journals, recommendations made by clinical guidelines, and commentary and opinion pieces both reflect and shape the acceptability and availability of reproductive technologies. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore narratives of SEF in Canadian medical journals and how these might shape medical perceptions of SEF. A qualitative, inductive content analysis of eight Canadian medical journal articles discussing SEF revealed key themes of "uncertainty," "ethical conflict," "age‐related fertility decline," "extending fertility," and "technological advancement." A key finding of this study was that the boundaries between medical and social justifications for SEF are becoming blurred. On one hand, authors reframed SEF as a medical procedure indicated to manage age‐related fertility decline (which is pathologized). On the other hand, authors upheld SEF as a potential solution to broad social problems, including delayed parenthood.