Will Nigerian Women Consider Freezing Their Eggs?

 

A recent news story, “More Women Freezing their Eggs for Later Pregnancies” by David Scott of KXAN caught our attention this week. After much discussion, this caused us to raise the question of whether Nigerian women will be open to freezing their eggs.

Some of you may know the television show Being Mary Jane, where lead character and news anchor Mary Jane Paul documents the process of freezing her eggs on live television – which becomes a pivotal point of the second season. She faces some criticism for it but because she is in her early forties and is not married. She also receives some commendation for going through with the process instead of waiting for marriage.

Scott writes, “New technology gives women a better chance at harvesting and freezing their eggs,” with a “97{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} chance of [the eggs] being viable later.” It costs $10,000 to harvest eggs and $800 per year to store your eggs. Given the circumstances, we cannot help but wonder whether or not it is possible for egg-freezing to become a norm for Nigerians. What do you think? Will Nigerian women take matters into their own hands, similar to Mary Jane? And at what age do you think the average Nigerian woman may panic and consider freezing her eggs for later pregnancies? What are the moral implications of undergoing this process?

By Kathryn Ani-Otoibhi