‘Social’ egg freezing and the UK’s statutory storage time limits

Within the past few years, following the development of a new fast-freezing technique known as vitrification, fertility clinics have started to offer the option of egg freezing to women concerned about their declining fertility. I am not concerned here with the pros and cons of egg freezing, or its wider social or ethical implications. Rather, my focus is solely and narrowly upon the the UK’s statutory time limit for the storage of gametes, and its unintended, and perhaps even perverse consequences for elective or ‘social’ egg freezing.