Freezing Fertility | VPRO Documentary
55People are having children at an increasingly older age, and sometimes that doesn't work out. The solution? Freeze your eggs young and 'manage' your fertility. How do we want to shape the future of childbearing?
The average age at which people have their first child (in the Netherlands) is around thirty. This age has been rising since the 1970s and with it the number of women who become infertile due to old age, but still want to have a child. Although there is a range of treatments available for 'wishful parents', the chances of success are often small. Specialists are therefore increasingly advising: start freezing your eggs young, so that you have a healthy supply for later. The motto seems to be: "a smart girl freezes on time".
We delve into the world of makeable fertility. We talk to fertility entrepreneurs, embryologists, IVF specialists and researchers. One saw fertility as a gap in the market and founded Spain's first egg bank. The other is concerned about the commercialization of fertility and is working on UK's first non-profit "fertility service. They have one thing in common: all are concerned with catching up with the human biological clock.
In the US, egg freezing parties are becoming more common. A kind of Tupperware party of the future, for ambitious people in their twenties and thirties who want to postpone their desire to have children. In the Netherlands, the 'Medisch Centrum Kinderwens' in Leiderdorp organizes fertility cafe's: evenings where people can ask all their questions about a freezing process in an informal setting.
In a society where certain certainties, such as a house, job or relationship, are taking longer and longer to arrive, freezing eggs is a solution for some people. But how do the costs of a freezing procedure - financially, emotionally and physically - compare with the chances of success? And: when do we lapse into 'everything-is-makeable-thinking'.
October, 2021
Directed by Maren Merckx
Research: Keshia Hederman
Production: Marie Schutgens
Editing: Michiel Hazebroek
Final editing: Doke Romeijn and Geert Rozinga
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