Fertility experts claim that the optimal period for a woman to have a baby is between 20 and 35 years of age. Many women are choosing to delay pregnancy but then subsequently experiencing problems conceiving. One solution being recommended is offering women the option to freeze their eggs when they are young, to use later in life, when the time suits better to have a child.
"The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) reiterated its advice that women should try to have their children during their "period of optimum fertility" – by the age of 35.
"Biologically, the optimum period for childbearing is between 20 and 35 years of age. Most women will get pregnant. Within a year, 75% of women aged 30 and 66% of women aged 35 will conceive naturally and have a baby. After this, it is increasingly difficult to fall pregnant, and the chance of miscarriage rises," the college said in a statement.
While women may turn to IVF after 35, it may not lead to them having a successful pregnancy, even if they have multiple embryo implantations, the RCOG added.
Official figures show that the number of women having a baby over the age of 40 has more than quadrupled in the past 30 years, while the number of those over 35 doing so has also risen sharply.
Davies said she was not necessarily advising women to have children earlier. "It's not for me to tell them what to do," she said. However, she said it was well-known that fertility declined as women aged and "as couples we have to face that".
The pronounced shift towards women leaving it later than before to have a child, often for career or personal reasons, has prompted concern that such women, especially those over 40, are at greater risk of negative outcomes, such as having a miscarriage or stillbirth."
www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/03/women-freeze-eggs-treatment-experts Is this a good use of biotechnology? Does this proposal give women and men more choices about having children or does it create a culture where society only values people who work, thus putting pressure on would be parents to prioritise careers and financial stability over a decision to have a family while young?
Image source