Buying Time: On the Option of Egg Freezing
Alia* (39 years old) laughs as she recalls the reasons that led her to undergo egg freezing about two years ago. She says she had never considered it until her mother mentioned it to her. Alia had never been married, and having children was not a priority for her, but her mother believed that egg freezing would keep the option of motherhood available if her body stopped producing eggs before she got married.
Alia currently lives outside Jordan, and she doesn't think her story about egg freezing will be the most inspiring because she’s not passionate about the idea of having children yet. She was 36 years old when her mother first tried to convince her, but she rejected the idea at the time because it didn’t interest her. Additionally, the procedure requires effort and time. Nearly a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Alia was staying at her parents' home in Amman. She felt she had enough time to consider the experience, and she began thinking that egg freezing could serve as a safeguard for her fertility.
Alia is not the only Jordanian woman who has undergone egg freezing. Doctors say that Jordanian women have been resorting to this procedure for about 15 years, primarily for medical reasons, but recently more women have turned to it due to the desire to avoid early marriage or to delay childbirth.
Suleiman Ghoneim, a gynecologist and obstetrician, explains that egg freezing is a way to preserve the possibility of future motherhood by safeguarding fertility. He notes that this procedure initially began for medical reasons, such as when women suffer from genetic diseases that affect fertility or when they require chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery that may impact their fertility later on.
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