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Experts weigh in on social egg freezing at our virtual event

At Wellbeing of Women's latest webinar on 10th November, experts spoke about social egg freezing, discussing everything from the science behind it to the ethics surrounding it

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A panel of experts discussed social egg freezing at Wellbeing of Women's webinar on Tuesday 10th November.

The event, which starred Sally Cheshire, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), journalist Sophia Money-Coutts, campaigner Baroness Deech and Imperial London consultant gynaecologist Lisa Webber, was chaired by Wellbeing of Women chair Professor Dame Lesley Regan.

Money-Coutts, who has been through the egg-freezing process herself, gave insight into her personal experiences while Webber and Cheshire took a deep dive into the science and financial elements of social egg freezing.

Money-Coutts said that freezing her own eggs cost around £5,000 altogether, but that "the feeling of relief I had afterwards was pretty immense".

She concluded that she feels it's "given me this breathing space and let me feel happy about where I am in life".

Afterwards, Webber outlined the egg-freezing process, explaining that it takes six weeks from the start of your first period to egg collection.

Cheshire then went through some important stats, highlighting the fact that at time of freezing, 47% of women have a partner - and 90% of women wanting to thaw and use them do.

Cheshire was quick to point out that egg freezing is not an 'insurance policy', as headlines in the media sometimes suggest, and that it does not always result in a baby.

Baroness Deech, former chair of the HFEA and a behind a campaign to extend the current 10-year storage limit for frozen eggs, said that "this limit was set before modern techniques of freezing were known".

She argued that failing to change the current legal regulations "is problematic and discriminatory against women".

The webinar was a resounding success and we'd like to thank the panellists and everyone who attended.