Sarah Devita was only 19 years old when she got the news: she had accelerated leukemia. As a student athlete at the University of Virginia, she underwent multiple rounds of chemo and radiation, eventually ridding herself of the cancer. Now, at 25, she’s thankful to still be in remission. But she’s also faced with the reality that her cancer treatment has almost certainly affected her fertility levels.
So recently, Devita took matters into her own hands, choosing to pause her daily intake of Tasigna (a drug that treats leukemia) in order to freeze her eggs with the hope of increasing the odds that she’ll be able to have children one day. She joins the growing number of women who are choosing to undergo the procedure for various reasons, from securing a backup option after learning of health risks—including ovarian cysts, a failed ovary or a history of cancer — to simply wanting some peace of mind about waiting until later in life to have kids.
At the end of the day, egg freezing gives women a sense of freedom — a feeling of beating that always ticking biological clock we’re so sick of hearing about.
“I think of it as an insurance policy,” said Devita, who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has been dating her partner for four years. The twisted irony to her statement: actual medical insurance rarely covers a single penny of the $10,000 procedure. And that’s just for the cost of one round of successful egg retrieval — women over the age of 35 often have to undergo multiple rounds to retrieve enough eggs to have a healthy pregnancy. Then there’s the cost of IVF, which will set you back another $20,000.
At the end of the day, egg freezing gives women a sense of freedom and control — a feeling of beating that always ticking biological clock we’re so sick of hearing about. But the problem is that the insane cost of the procedure makes that freedom inaccessible for the vast majority of women. While the whole concept of freezing your eggs has become more socially acceptable and talked about, it’s still far from democratic. And that needs to change.
But what options are there for women employed by less progressive (and less well-financed) companies?
Luckily, it’s already starting to. Companies, in Silicon Valley in particular, are stepping up where insurance companies won’t. Businesses like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Facebook and others have made headlines for their fertility benefits for employees, putting pressure on other industries to follow suit if they want to recruit top talent. The average family-planning stipend from the tech giants amounts to roughly $15,000 — enough to cover at least one round of successful egg retrieval.
Angela Dulavoy, a 39-year-old senior program manager at Salesforce, was able to undergo the egg-freezing process by paying only $3,000 out of pocket. The rest of the cost (about $15,000) was covered by her company’s benefits package. “Salesforce has a great benefits package, where they cover almost all the costs of the egg-freezing process, which helped make the decision easier for me,” she said.
But what options are there for women employed by less progressive (and less well-financed) companies?
That’s where up-and-coming, women-run companies like Carrot Fertility and Future Family step in, both of which are working to open up the option to more women. Carrot Fertility works with employers to provide affordable fertility and family-planning benefits to their employees. Often, the employees of these companies are the first to request these benefits, and companies (such as Gusto, Foursquare and 500 Startups) come to Carrot to launch their first fertility-benefits package.
Future Family, on the other hand, works in a different way, by offering a monthly subscription service that works like a monthly down payment toward fertility procedures. Rather than paying a large lump sum up front, patients can pay in smaller installments. “Fertility is such an integral part of our life arc, yet there are very little options around it,” said Claire Tomkins, CEO of Future Family. “The beating heart of the fertility industry is being proactive about having as many future health options as possible.”
These companies are making strides, but as the fertility market heats up, we’re sure to see some setbacks. A rapidly growing market like this one tempts snake-oil salesmen and companies simply seeking to snag a piece of the pie. Just last year, PitchBook tallied more than $178 million of venture money flowing into fertility start-ups, and the last thing the fertility market needs is its own Theranos story.
Then there’s the issue of whether egg freezing really works or is being suggested too frequently. After all, the probability of the procedure resulting in a live birth starts at roughly 31 percent for women who froze their eggs at age 25 and drops to 26 percent at age 30, 19 percent at age 35 and 15 percent at age 40.
While the effectiveness of the procedure is a real concern—and definitely not the right option for everyone—that’s exactly what it should be: an option for all.
Hey! The Bold Italic recently launched a podcast, This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley. Check out the full season or listen to the episode below featuring Hunter Walk, an investor and the former head of product at YouTube. More coming soon, so stay tuned!
