We need to talk about egg freezing

Georgina Williams was eight years into a city career, two years into a relationship, and 20 minutes into a tube ride when she saw a fertility clinic’s advert for egg donors. If you donated your eggs, they offered to freeze extra for your own use. She made an appointment. Offering me a seat in her serene basement flat, she exhales, with meaning: “And so it began.”

The first “ice baby” from an egg frozen through vitrification was born in December 2010. In 2012 the label of “experimental” was removed, but with a disclaimer: “There are not yet sufficient data to recommend [egg freezing] for the sole purpose of circumventing reproductive ageing in healthy women,” said the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, “because there are no data to support the safety, efficacy, ethics, emotional risks and cost- effectiveness of oocyte cryopreservation for this indication.” It was the equivalent of them raising their eyebrows as you reach for a tree branch, and saying: “But don’t come running to me…” They knew you were going to climb anyway. Citing the lack...